


I'd Always Come for You

by AFCastleDefender



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Ben Solo is pissed., F/M, Implied/Referenced Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2020-07-24 23:42:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 19
Words: 36,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20022958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AFCastleDefender/pseuds/AFCastleDefender
Summary: The Supreme Leader watches in fury as the Hutts, once and future gangsters of the galaxy, offer up his mother and his girl to the First Order to collect their bounties and avenge the decades-old death of Jabba. Even after the emotional events of Crait, Ben finds that he is willing to do anything to spare the women he loves from enslavement and execution. All that stands in his way is the First Order, the Resistance, the Hutts, and 29 years of pain, real and imagined. Can the sometime Kylo Ren keep his galaxy AND his heart?I don't own these characters, Star Wars, Lucas Films, Disney, etc. There will be smut. You have been warned.





	1. Bounty

Ben

The holovid indicator activated an all-channel hail during the Supreme Leader’s morning briefing, its insistent buzz interrupting Armitage Hux mid-rant. Kylo was hopeful that it was something important that would preclude him from returning to the tiresome necessity of listening to his second in command wax diabolical about the First Order war machine. The man was wily but boring as all hells.

General Hux, seated to his left, was practically vibrating with delight at the message summary, rushing to check his datapad for the reserve credit balances available in any number of First Order banks so he stood ready to authorize payment of the bounty for Leia Organa Solo when it was demanded. General Hux had long since memorized the bounties of each of the key players in the Resistance, the largest of which belonged to his mother and Rey.

Since the battle of Crait, Hux had been obsessed with locating the remaining diehards of his mother’s army, itching to execute their most famous figureheads in front of a subservient galaxy. It looked to their resident ginger dictator that at least half of his wish was about to come true.

Though his outward appearance was one of bored disinterest, the man who masqueraded as Kylo Ren watched and listened intently to the phlegmy grunts of the Hutt language as the leader of the re-formed Grand Hutt Council announced the kidnapping of his mother from the Resistance. The holotable in front of him translated the speech as the slug-like warlord gloated about his prize.

“The so-called Hutt Killer has, at long last, been brought to answer for her crimes against my uncle, the great Jabba the Hutt. Let this be a warning to anyone who thinks to undermine the long dynasty of rule that our kind has enjoyed for millennia. The widow of Han Solo, the once-great princess, and scion of the Republic, has grown old, but the great Hutts live for hundreds of years and enjoy long memories.”

“Get on with it!” Hux intoned, willing the unnamed Hutt leader to get to the point of his announcement. For once, the Supreme Leader was inclined to agree with him.

Suddenly the holoimage switched to a view that chilled his blood. His mother was chained to a wall, slumped and hanging from both wrists, her head bowed, her face bloodied, and her mourning braids hanging around her shoulders. A fury unlike anything he had ever known overtook his body, making his limbs tremble. His saber jumped on his belt. Ben could feel the Darkness calling him, begging him to unleash it.

The image returned to the Hutt. “Let this be notice that The Hutts once again claim dominion over Hutt Space, our ancestral birthright. We will stop at nothing to refill our coffers and reclaim our palaces for the honor and prosperity of all Hutts.

‘We are eager to partner with the First Order and we entreat the Supreme Leader to grant the bounty of Leia Organa Solo…and…”

The image switched again to another woman and another cell, this one inhabited by the unmistakable form of…

_No_.

The Supreme Leader abruptly rose from his chair, appearing to the generals around him to be moved by fury at the sight of the one who had murdered his predecessor. They would be correct, but not for the reasons they believed.

The Hutt’s voice continued with unabashed delight and deep, belching chuckles. “… _the famed Last Jedi_ , Rey of Jakku.”

The abuse of his mother was enough for him to burn down the galaxy, but _this_ …his bond mate… _his Rey._ He could not bear it.

Ben thought about the moments before she had shut the ramp of the Falcon and spirited the few survivors of the Resistance away from Crait. He remembered her conflict, her desire to have him with her. The anguish that matched his own as she found herself, once again, alone with the Force.

The Force took that moment, as the Hutt droned on in the background of his consciousness, to show him a vision of the moment before Rey fled the _Supremacy_. She had not abandoned him without assuring herself that he was still breathing. He could feel the ghost of a small hand running itself through his hair, the press of a small kiss just above his ear. “I’m sorry, Ben,” she had whispered before gathering the broken pieces of his grandfather’s lightsaber and running for Snoke’s escape pod.

As he beheld Rey curled up in a ball on the floor, trembling and sick, he was no longer Kylo Ren, Supreme Leader of the First Order. He was simply Ben Solo and regardless of what had been broken between them, he had knelt before her in front of a sacred fire, held her hand, and made her a promise. Though she might not know it, that action alone constituted a simple and legal union in much of the galaxy.

Rey was _his_ to protect and avenge.

The image remained on her for several more seconds, allowing Ben to catalog the damage to her person. Her hair was unbound, tangled. It covered most of her face except for a large, dark bruise that was visible on one cheek. Rey had clearly struggled and been struck by her captors. Dried blood and dirt were stuck to every other part of her and pooled under her mouth where it hovered above a filthy floor. Her hands and feet were shackled with heavy, rusted chains.

Rey moaned softly, opening one swollen eye to look at the holocam, before moving her head to look at something positioned behind her. Ben’s focus shifted, knowing through instinct that she was trying to show him something. That she was aware he would likely be watching. His heart dropped to his stomach when he realized what guarded Rey. A ysalamiri lizard, its forked tongue darting out to test the air, lounged in a cage nearby.

_Fucking hell._ The Hutt was going to die by his hand.

The effort it had taken to lift her head toward the famous Force-suppressing amphibian must have drained the reserves of Rey’s energy. Her head fell to the floor with a thud and she was unable or unwilling to prevent the whimper of pain that escaped her when she did. Ben tried to reach for her through the bond but knew that she could not feel him. He had never felt so angry or so helpless. He wanted to climb out of his skin.

“General Hux,” Ben hissed, “prepare my ship and inform the Hutts that I will be coming to award the bounty myself and collect my prisoners. _Immediately_.”

Had he taken the trouble to notice, Ben would have seen Hux’s face break into a rare broad smile.

“Yes, sir,” he responded with demonic glee. “I shall assign our best detachment to escort you. In the meantime, with your permission, I shall prepare the primary hangar for…well…a _hanging_ as it were.”

Unable to think of a reason that would make sense to Hux for his mother and Rey to remain alive once they were in First Order custody, Ben simply nodded and strode from the room. He would figure that out later.

_Mother…Rey…I’m coming._

He knew they couldn’t hear him, but if nothing else, Ben Solo needed to reassure himself. He would get them back. 


	2. Diplomatic Relations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Supreme Leader shows up on Nal Hutta to fetch his mother and his girl with his own special brand of diplomacy.

The proximity alert blared in warning that the Coruscanti medical frigate awaited the Supreme Leader at the rendezvous point. Ben suppressed a sigh of relief. He would not trust his mother and Rey to anyone but the most skilled medical professionals in the galaxy.

Hux was nearly incandescent in his outrage over the rental of the luxury care ship. He could not understand the need to rent the finest medical care for doomed prisoners when the First Order could bring the basics or, if necessary, send along one of its hulking hospital ships.

“Better yet,” Hux cackled with his typical malevolence, “we could simply watch the both of them die slow deaths, broadcast to the galaxy.”

Ben responded that he would not waste the opportunity to show the galaxy that the First Order was able to temper its vengeance with justice when all eyes were on them. He would not have their greatness associated with a scurrilous, upstart rabble presuming to claim a corner of _his_ galaxy. Leia Organa and the Last Jedi would, therefore, be given impartial care and due process before their rightful execution. Besides, he reminded Hux, it was unlikely that his mother’s true believers would waste the opportunity to sneak aboard the Finalizer to try and save their comrades. Their conviction would draw Dameron, the traitors and the rest like insects.

It was a win-win, he reasoned.

Made up in the desperate moments after the broadcast when he struggled to form a plan, the overbearing ginger zealot bought Ben’s reasons cheap. As constant as stars, Hux’s hubris was guaranteed to feast on the promise of spectacle, so that’s what Ben promised.

The truth was that he needed a way for his mother and Rey to escape once they were able. It would be easy enough to use the Force to manipulate the medical crew and Stormtroopers. Rey had done the same on Starkiller base when her abilities had only just awakened. As for him, he could claim ignorance and they would still be safe. There would be someone to blame.

“Supreme Leader,” came Hux’s hail over the comms.

“Yes, General,” Ben responded with the practiced tone of bored disdain he learned from Snoke. 

“The bounties have been deposited in a temporary account. They await your security codes for transfer to our new friends on Nal Hutta when the exchange has been made.”

“Excellent. Thank you, General.” 

“We eagerly await our newest guests. Hux, out.”

With everything in place, Ben’s shuttle began its descent to the surface of Nal Hutta. The name of the planet was the ultimate in galactic irony. Meaning “beautiful jewel” in Huttese, it was a stinking swamp of a space rock, its resources long since stripped away, leaving a puke-green, spherical cesspool in its wake. Why the leader of the Hutts would want to re-establish a gangster empire here, he had no idea. It turned his stomach to think that the only two people in the galaxy who might still harbor any feelings for him were injured and imprisoned in such a place.

Ben could feel the wings of his shuttle retract as the landing gear touched down on the surface a few minutes later. Placing his helmet on his head, he swept from the craft where he was met by the vicious slug who had kidnapped and abused his mother and left Rey to wallow in the most painful torment that could be afflicted upon a Force user of her powers.

For once he was glad that he allowed Hux to take the lead in delivering his regular messages to the galaxy. Only those on the Finalizer had seen him without the mask. If this creature could see his face, Ben knew that he would be unable to hide the rage he felt. 

“Supreme Leader,” came a grunt in heavily accented Basic, “welcome to Nal Hutta. I am Borga, named for the greatest of my clan. Please follow me to my hall where we can share a toast to the establishment of diplomatic relations and cooperation between the Hutts and the exalted First Order.”

_Diplomatic relations and cooperation? In your most cherished dreams, pig,_ Ben scoffed. _This thing thought himself that powerful. It was almost comical._

“I am afraid that I cannot partake of your hospitality, Borga,” Ben replied. “The mask, you see. I must verify the identities of my prisoners and collect them with haste. The urgent business of the Order calls me back.”

Borga slides along the surface of the landing pad leaving a disgusting, gelatinous goo in his wake. Ben steps around it and stalks toward the Hutt stronghold, admonishing himself to keep pace with his host when all he wants to do is rush to his mother and Rey.

“The business of the galaxy calls,” the Hutt acknowledged. “Still, when will we have another opportunity to discuss how the Hutts may add our strength to the First Order to secure this sector of the galaxy, _eh_?”

“Indeed,” Ben responded. _That will be half-past never, you disgusting mass of vomit._ “Nonetheless, I will have my prisoners now.” Ben waved a finger to his retinue of Stormtroopers who fanned out behind him, ready to attack on his command should Borga insist on keeping him here longer than he wanted to stay.

“Er…yes, of course, Supreme Leader. Perhaps you will consent for celebrations and discussions soon. I presume you are ready to transfer the bounty?”

Ben slid a small datapad from his cloak and inclined his head. “The bounty is ready. Before I authorize the exchange, you will show me on the holovid that the ysalamir lizard has been destroyed. You will have no need for it now.”

Borga chuckled with evil glee. “Yes, of course, Supreme Leader. I should not wish to incur your wrath by leaving it alive after it has outlived its usefulness to me.”

“Just so. You will do it _now_.”

Borga slid over to a dais and grunted. Two slaves threw bunches of fruit in his mouth and the Hutt chomped down with drooling pleasure. It struck Ben as rather like the reward of a trained circus animal and it caused him to stifle a gag inside his mask.

An ogre-like creature was dispatched to the cell where Rey was being held. Ben watched as the lizard was dispatched with a blaster, its yellow guts spraying the guard and Rey with organic matter. Rey screamed in pain, her flesh appearing to sizzle wherever the bits of lizard touched her bare skin. He was going to _enjoy_ killing Borga Hutt and all who worked for him.

Ben turned back toward the gathering of Hutts as two hulking servants dragged his mother and Rey to the center of the hall. Leia Organa appeared to be unconscious. The guards dropped her with no care for the injuries already inflicted. The sound of flesh hitting stone made him cringe inside the mask as if the pain were his own. There was no sound from his mother and the absence of reaction to how she had been handled terrified him.

_Gods._ Was she already gone?

Ben reached out in the Force. _No._ She was still breathing, though barely alive. He could not delay.

Rey was on her feet, but barely as she shuffled into the room. Her entire body swayed and trembled with shock, her eyes were wild with fever and terror. Her hair was matted to her face and he could see that her left arm was hanging drunkenly at her side as she was dragged by a heavy metal collar to the place next to his mother. Immediately, she stooped to pull his mother’s head into her lap.

The rage that rose up in Ben was barely containable. “Borga?”

“Yes, Supreme Leader,” the Hutt said with pride as he continued to operate under the misapprehension that he was about to make a critical ally and restore the fortunes of his people. “I dislike the condition in which I find these prisoners.”

Borga laughed that garbled belching sound distinctive of his people, not comprehending his danger. His minions joined in, eager to be a part of whatever historic accord they had convinced themselves they were about to secure. “My lord, I swear I have done my best to demonstrate repeatedly what happens to those who cross the Hutts and the First Order. How else would you have me treat those who have killed my kin and thwarted your rule short of killing them outright?” The beings around him chuckled in agreement, relishing the suffering of those who were the enemies of the Hutts.

Biting down on his lip to contain his rage just a few moments longer, Ben strode toward his mother and Rey. “The First Order is not a penniless gang trying to regain its glory days,” he spat as he signaled the medical team forward to collect his mother and while he moved nearer to Rey. “We have no need to bloody our prisoners and leave them in filth to _inspire compliance_.”

Rey reached for his mother as the medical team carefully lifted her away from Rey’s gentle hold. Rey struggled to rise again, her arm swinging unnaturally at her side, the action inciting laughter from the gathered crowd as she stumbled. “No, please,” Rey choked out. “Please let her stay with me…or…take me. _She’s so hurt._ They’re looking for me. _He’s_ l-looking for me. He- _he’ll p-pay you_.” Rey gulped. “I know he will.” The medical team ignored her and rushed back toward his shuttle with their burden.

Rey began to sob, the sounds mewling and dry. The guard holding her chain yanked it cruelly, relishing the opportunity to silence the savior of the galaxy.

_I’m here, Rey,_ Ben sent through the bond, but she didn’t flinch or acknowledge that she heard him. He knew that it might take some time for the effects of the damned lizard to wear off, but the idea that it would have done her permanent harm terrified him. No matter that they stood on two sides of a war, their connection was the life in his veins.

It was time for these vermin to die.

Ben stepped closer to Rey, ready to quiet her mind and catch her in his arms as he had in the forest of Takodana. He was unable to bear her pain and fear a moment longer, knowing better than anyone how close to her limits she had been pushed to beg _anyone_ for _anything_.

He would have relished carving the entire Hutt Council like nerf steaks with his lightsaber, but Rey and his mother were in no condition to withstand more lost time. “Justice in this galaxy is served on my terms and at my pleasure,” Ben hissed. “Dominion over the known territories, of every star, every planetary system, of every moon and asteroid, is given only at my behest.”

Sputtering, the Hutt belches with outrage. His minions mutter and shift with uncertainty, realizing at last their peril. _Good._ Ben lifts a few fingers where they are hidden in the folds of his cloak. Summoning the Force, the chain around Rey’s neck falls to the floor without resistance, its lock melting like ice exposed to the full brilliance of sunlight. The chain skitters across the floor like a serpent, rocketing toward Borga, sliding up the mass of his belly like a parasite. Ben feels no small amount of glee when, just like his mother, he uses the chain to choke a Hutt.

“I have _not_ granted it.” The voice modulator of his mask crackled with fury and Ben almost smiled to himself at the terror he was inspiring in the remaining Hutts.

The Stormtroopers fanned out around him, their weapons pointed at the crowd, covering him should any of the hangers-on around the Hutt try their hand at assassinating the Supreme Leader.

Ben made quick work of Borga and the Hutt Council. Curling his hand into a fist, the chain dug into the jowls of its leader, the slug’s eyes bulging as he gasped for air. Ben raised his other hand, directing the Force to pop the remaining Hutts like overinflated balloons. Their gelatinous flesh splattered on their stunned followers and on the stone walls behind them before Ben ordered the Stormtroopers to finish off the rest.

Blaster fire rained from all directions while the dregs of the galaxy fumbled with their weapons, desperate to fight back. As for Ben, catching Rey in his arms is a homecoming. Something askew in him settles into place.

The last thing he notices, other than the screams of the dying, is the addition of two Stormtroopers and two Force signatures he knows well.

It’s not like FN-2187 and Dameron were about to be left behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh! I cannot tell you how sorry I am not to have been updating this or any of my stories over the last couple of months. I have big things happening in another facet of my life and it is taking all of my time. I hope that two new chapters in this story softens the blow of waiting. 
> 
> Thanks so much for sticking around! You are the best. I am getting to the outstanding comments as well. I WILL ALWAYS ANSWER. Even it if takes a while, so please continue to pepper me with your comments!


	3. Safe in My Care

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> His girl thinks she's dying and wants him to hold her.

“Leia Organa has been stabilized, Supreme Leader. She has been immersed in the bacta tank. We expect she will be there for some hours yet.” The ship’s chief physician held his arms behind his back and shifted nervously on his feet.

Ben gave a single incline of his head to acknowledge the report. Inside he could feel his heart race and he struggled to appear unphased by the news. She would live. _His mother would live._ Reaching out through the Force, he could feel her energy renewing itself, expanding as she floated in the tank down the hall. Part of him wanted very much to go to her, but he doubted she would want to see his face when she awakened. Pain and guilt swamped him for a moment as it often did.

“And the Jedi?” Ben's voice was a strange and tumbled gravel to his ears.

The physician cleared his throat. Ben probed at the edges of the doctor’s mind, unable to stop himself from knowing what was yet unspoken. _Was Rey dying?_ Had he been too late? He did not want to consider what would happen to him if she died.

The cold ripple of anxiety that washed through his veins tormented him with the idea that the Force would not allow him to heal them both. That it would claim either Rey or his mother. At this moment, it seemed that he was destined to lose the other half of himself.

“Well, my lord, the young woman has regained consciousness, but we have been unable to proceed with treatment. She is holed up in the corner of the examination room and refuses to allow us to touch her. She is clearly still suffering from the effects of the ysalimir lizard and in a lot of pain from the injuries she sustained at the hands of her captors. If we could stabilize her arm and wash her clean of the lizard, that would be the first step in healing her. Unfortunately, I have been unable to convince her that we mean her no harm. She demands to see Leia Organa.”

Ben swept to his feet. “Show me.”

The physician scrambled to get ahead of him as Ben stalked down the hall. “This way, Supreme Leader.”

When the portal slid open, Ben could see Rey crouched in a corner of the small room, trembling as she had been on the floor of that filthy cell. Her entire body vibrated with pain and fear that he could feel through the Force as if it were her own.

“Leave us,” he called to the physician over his shoulder.

As the door started to slide closed, the physician quickly stepped inside. “My lord,” he stated in a shaking voice, “this is highly irregular. I realize that… _er_ …she is not on the _same side_ of…of… _life_ …as… _you_ , but I have taken an oath and I cannot allow…”

Ben had to hand it to the man. He had a backbone. No ten officers of the Order would have dared to confront him this way.

“I assure you, doctor, that I mean her no harm. The Jedi will be perfectly safe in my care.”

Looking over his shoulder, he almost smirked to find that the man did not appear convinced.

Raising one dark, sardonic brow, he clarified. “I am going to tell you something that few people know about the patients in your care. Between the oath you took, the contract you have signed, and the fact that I can kill you with the Force from a hundred light-years away, I am hoping you will comprehend your jeopardy should you ever divulge what I am about to tell you.”

The physician visibly paled but nodded his agreement.

“Leia Organa is my mother. This woman is my equal in the Force. I would no sooner harm either of them than I would harm myself.”

The doctor said nothing, merely nodded before turning on his heel and hurrying from the room.

_Yes_ , Ben thought. Skywalker blood. _It’s enough to make anyone want to run_.

Turning back to the woman shaking and whimpering in the corner, Ben studied Rey for a moment, trying to decide how best to gain her cooperation so she would no longer be in pain.

Her trembling was so intense that Ben could hear her teeth clanking against one another. He could feel the burn of the ysalimir lizard’s effects coursing through her veins.

“Rey,” he whispered carefully. He hoped the emotion in his voice would register.

Rey’s unfocused hazel eyes opened slightly, but she did not turn toward him. “ _Please_. Please let me see her.”

“Rey…” Ben started to reach out to her but drew back at the last moment. He could not be sure that she even knew it was he who was speaking to her or that anyone else was actually in the room.

“He would want me to t-take care of h-her.” Rey’s voice fractured as her body shook. “H-he’s very an… _angry_ with m-me…but he _knows_ …knows…I would protect her. _Please_.”

Rey sobbed in earnest now, the sound a mournful, barking thing that lived in her chest. Her eyes remained dry from dehydration and her trembling increased. Ben could not bear it a moment longer.

Lowering himself to the floor next to her, Ben drew off his gloves and tossed them aside. Reaching out with both hands, he drew Rey against him, cringing at how slight she felt. He wrapped his cloak around them both but let out a string of curses when she began to struggle and pant with fear.

His girl was at the end of her rope. Ben considered putting her into a Force sleep again as he had on Takodana and again in the Hutt’s chamber. In her weakened state, he wasn’t certain he would be able to awaken her again. Rey’s systems were shutting down from abuse, shock, and lack of water.

Somehow, he _had_ to convince her she was safe.

“ _Shh, Sweetheart_ ,” Ben crooned to her shifting his arms to support her entire weight. “My mother is safe. You kept her safe for me, Rey. I’m not angry. I’m here. _Let me help you_.”

Ben must have repeated that litany in some form or another to his scavenger at least ten times, rocking her gently in his arms, before it registered.

“Ben?” Rey asked, lifting her head slightly to look at him. The trembling had ceased, but her voice still sounded raw. He knew with a flash of insight that it had become so from endless pleading for his mother and herself. From screaming in torment. If Ben could kill the Hutts again, he would. He would love to make it a regularly scheduled occurrence, in fact.

“Rey. _Yes_. I’m here.” Ben brushed the hair out of her face, careful not to disturb the bruised welt on her cheek.

She let out a long sigh. “I’m dying, then. Will you h-hold me? I dreamed once that you held m-me.”

Tears sprung to his eyes and Ben fought not to tighten his hold on her. It frightened him that she could not discern the reality of her current situation from the hell of the Hutt’s prison. That she thought he was just a hallucination conjured by her dying subconscious.

_She dreamed of him._

He wanted to absorb her pain into his body. He would gladly give the last small measure of Light in him if it would heal her. That was the moment when Ben knew that he would do anything to keep her safe. He would give up the galaxy. He would leave the First Order. Ben would move star systems for the woman in his arms.

Clarity had come at such a price.

“ _I’ve dreamed of you, too, love_ ,” Ben confessed with tender gravity. “And you aren’t going to die. You are going to allow me to carry you to the table behind us and let the doctors heal you.”

Rey’s small nose scrunched up in a way that would have been adorable had she not been so injured. “Doctors?”

“Yes, Sweetheart. _Doctors_. I brought a private hospital ship from Coruscant. My mother is in a bacta tank down the hall. She is healing. You are in an exam room and you need to do the same. Will you let me call them now?”

Rey looked around the space, orienting herself to the small, sterile room. He watched in fascination as she fought to reclaim her grip on reality. Ben only hoped she wouldn’t pull away from him. She might need to be held, but he needed to hold her just as much.

“Alright,” she finally whispered before closing her eyes again. The tension drained from her body.

Rey was going to trust him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter, but this is all I really wanted to accomplish with this one. I just needed Ben to realize that the last bit of Light in him was for her and small though it may be, it's more important than anything the Dark Side or the First Order has provided. 
> 
> Rey is still half out of her head, so we'll get to the 'what now' stuff in the next chapter! :)


	4. Desperation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Supreme Leader must help the medical team address Rey's injuries. It is almost more than Ben can stand.

Rey’s trust was a precious boon to Ben, but that didn’t stop the experience of her treatment from becoming a living nightmare for them both. He could not comprehend how she could still be conscious. Dazed hazel eyes pled with him to take away her pain.

When the team of physicians entered the room, she panicked again, causing the bile to rise in Ben’s throat as her terror bled across their bond. No matter _what_ he said to her, no matter how gentle and persuasive the medical team tried to be, she refused to accept sedation. When he suggested that he could put her in a Force sleep, the doctors refused, needing her awake just in case they had to inquire about her arm.

Scans showed that in addition to the ruin that was her left arm, six of her ribs were broken, and a hairline fracture slashed across her cheekbone. That line, creeping just under the skin of the dark bruise on her cheek, was oddly reminiscent of the jagged line that she had given him on Starkiller base.

Sometimes the Force could be terrifying in its symmetry. _This was his fault._

Ben knew that they could go in circles with her for as long as Rey could hold out. She was used to waiting for others. He thought of what she endured at the hands of Snoke. Rey didn’t have it in her to give up. He’d finally ordered them to proceed without the blessed surcease brought by strong analgesics. Ben prayed to the Force that she could forgive him for it.

And so, Ben held her down, the restraints unable to contain her as her Force powers returned to her with a vengeance, the action of using his own Force powers against her flayed his psyche.

_I’m so sorry, love,_ he told her through their bond.

“ _Please!_ _Make them stop!_ I’m sorry, too, Ben! I’m sorry I hurt you… _that I left you_. Your face… _I’m sorry_. _Please_.” Rey panted, babbling in her misery, almost hyperventilating as the physicians did their work.

It felt like being cut open by dull knives to listen to Rey beg him repeatedly not to let them hurt her. Her apologies combined with the woeful, childlike quality of her gaze was wrenching. Had she been herself, he knew her wails would hurt her pride as much as her injuries hurt her body. The thought shamed him.

Rey was nearly incoherent with her pleas. Whatever the Hutts had done to her, it had been enough to nearly break her and reduce this proud, brave woman to begging. Ben grit his teeth against the need to roar in outrage at what had been done to this perfect creature of Light. _His Rey_.

And she _was_ his. Whether she wanted to admit it. Whether there was war or peace or politics keeping them apart.

Ben swallowed, holding her gaze and willing his strength to her through their bond. He had never been good at healing, even as a Padawan. It was the one area where his Master always said his Darkness impeded his abilities. But _gods_ , he was willing to try. _For her_. This had to stop.

He glanced down toward the end of the gurney where Rey’s bared legs thrashed. Her heels beat the mattress just so she could endure the agony of having her arm _touched_ by the doctors and medical technicians. Rey let out a blood-curdling scream that Ben felt in the fabric of his body.

“My lord,” the head physician told him in troubled tones, “I’m afraid we may have to take the arm. I’m not sure what we’ve done will be enough to preserve the blood flow to her hands.”

Rey moaned and dry-heaved as she registered what the doctor said. “ _Ben_ ,” she whimpered, crying without tears.

“ _Shh, Sweetheart_ , I’ve got you,” he crooned in her ear, desperate to calm her as the physician measured his reaction to the news that she might not escape her imprisonment unscathed after all.

It was the first time Ben could remember feeling nearly faint.

Without missing a beat, he turned into Kylo Ren, Supreme Leader of the galaxy, and threatened them all with their lives should they maim Rey. His mind went to the battle on Crait when Ben ordered his fighters to destroy the Falcon with an uncaring vengeance. The thought that he could have killed her kept him awake for months. Allowing the First Order to take her apart piece by piece was a regret he knew he could not bear.

Ben closed his eyes, loathe to break the contact with hers, knowing she was desperate for his comfort, but needing the distance to center himself in the Force. He called to the small circle of Light that lived on the edges of his soul. He pulled it toward him like a beloved pet held on a tether. He coaxed it, praised it, entreated it to grow in strength and brilliance on behalf of its servant, Rey. 

Ben began to chant quietly.

Just when he thought his efforts to be in vain, a brilliant flash tore across his consciousness like the swift removal of a scab grown over a deep wound. Painful in its intensity, it lit the landscape behind his eyes with the power of twin suns. It felt like flying a landspeeder after years away, bumpy and awkward but ever familiar. Ben continued to chant.

When he opened his eyes sometime later, Ben was surprised to find Rey staring up at him, her body quieted at last.

Slowly, his girl lifted the damaged arm, restored by his Light, and cupped his cheek. Her eyes told Ben a thousand stories of gratitude and naked caring. He wanted to hear her tell them all.

Ben swallowed past the sudden lump in his throat, ignoring the stares of wonder of the medical team surrounding them. He would never forget the look in Rey’s eyes. He knew that look of tenderness and awe was all he would hold onto in the unending days ahead when she was gone from his sight and he warmed a worthless throne.

That look was everything, but everything it meant was never his to keep _._

**~**

Four standard hours later and Ben was at loose ends. Rey was safely immersed in a bacta tank and mending. His mother was resting comfortably, though she had yet to regain consciousness.

It was just as well. There were no words for what she just endured in the name of the First Order and those who wished to ally with it.

Ben took refuge in action. He needed to move his plans forward. If he didn’t, he was concerned that he would lower himself to the floor and weep for what happened after he convinced Rey to trust him and let the doctors help her.

_The way Rey looked at him…_ Ben stopped himself from exploring that thought. He had no time for fantasies and the prison of endless _want_. He needed to get her to safety. 

Ben reached out for the two Force signatures he knew were trying to blend in with the rest of the troopers aboard. He needed to recruit them in order to carry out the rest of his plan. He just had to keep himself from killing them or from taking any cheap shots in return. It was time to confront the traitor and the pilot.

Allowing the Force to lead him down the pristine white halls of the ship, Ben rounded a corner to find that the former Stormtrooper and Poe Dameron were standing guard outside a random door, trying to look taller in their stolen, ill-fitting uniforms. He wondered for a moment what happened to their original owners and what in the seven hells they thought they were guarding. As he approached, he could read the sign on the door.

_Medical Supplies_

_Gods._ The idiots were guarding bacta patches. Ben sighed. Sometimes it really did feel like his life was some fractured galactic fairy tale and he only a character.

“ _Dameron…FN-2187…thank you for securing the bacta patches against any unforeseen medical supply raids_.”

Sardonic humor was always Ben’s strong suit. It was one of the “gifts” he’d inherited from Han Solo. Using it now felt almost like a homecoming after years of serving Snoke when there was no room for something as ordinary as humor, no matter how jaded the delivery.

The men in the white suits stiffened visibly and turned their masks toward one another in surprise. Neither man moved, preferring instead to pretend that they weren’t exactly who Ben knew them to be.

“Honestly,” Ben barely restrained himself from rolling his eyes. He refused to give them the satisfaction of knowing they got under his skin. “The Resistance is so predictable in stealing Stormtrooper get-ups, it’s practically a running joke among my officers. I don’t need to unmask you to know who you are. I can feel your unique signatures in the Force. I remember them very well from our past encounters.”

Dameron is the first to relent, carefully removing his helmet. The traitor soon followed. Both men frowned at him and wielded their blasters in his direction. Grabbing them with the Force, he sent them spinning down the opposite hallway, well out of their reach.

The idiots. They’d probably only shoot themselves.

“Now then,” Ben gestured with his chin, “if you’d please move toward the opposite end of the corridor, I will give you an update on my mother and Rey before I share my plan _to get them_ _the hells off this ship_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi All! 
> 
> Real-life is kicking my behind at the moment, so I thought I would escape a bit and try to get in a new chapter. I'm hoping to get some more in before things get really crazy.
> 
> Poor Rey. A small girl who always had to have her guard up would not easily relinquish control while so injured. Ben's reaction to watching her in pain is so telling, isn't it? She forces him to the Light without even trying. 
> 
> Thoughts? Please leave me some comments. I always appreciate it! XO


	5. Why?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux doesn't believe the Supreme Leader's story about how the scavenger and General Organa escaped, but Ben doesn't care. And...Ben has a determined visitor, but dashes her hopes as gently as he can. Poor Ben Solo.

Ben closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the conn of the Upsilon, monitoring the movements of the pilots and techs around him, fighting an internal war not to tug on the Force bond to check on Rey even as her own transport – the Falcon, no doubt- raced through hyperspace in the opposite direction.

As they were whenever he was present, each uniformed and anonymous junior officer performed the tasks of their job with careful precision, each familiar with the current mood of their Supreme Leader and wary should he find fault in the way they piloted his shuttle. He knew that each expected terrible retribution for any offense, real or imagined. 

Sometimes, Ben had to admit to himself, their fear was useful. 

It was his legendary temper that allowed his mother and Rey to be spirited away to escape pods. He had put half the contingent of Stormtroopers who accompanied him in a Force sleep and then manufactured a destructive rage over their dereliction of duty for the benefit of their squad leader. 

After he ruined a couple of bulkheads and made some empty threats, he commed Hux and blamed him for their ineptitude. His words to the ginger irritant were so inventive in their abuse that he made the man blush. It didn’t hurt that he was sitting at the head of his table of generals during a briefing when Ben dressed him down. If he weren’t so weary from the past few days, he might have laughed.

“Your best unit, I believe you said, General,” Ben mocked. “The best available to guard the prisoners and bring them back for execution.”

“Supreme Leader,” Hux whined, “you are the most powerful Force user in the galaxy aside from that desert rat! Surely you could have sensed something was going on and sought to stop it.”

“Are you suggesting, General Hux,” Ben asked, “that rather than expecting an entire squad of Stormtroopers whose sole purpose in life is to protect me and dispatch the enemies of the First Order that a mystical power you don’t believe in should have handled the matter instead _while your soldiers took a nap?_ ”

Hux cleared his throat as he did whenever something hit too close to home. 

“Of course not, sir!” Hux spat, his dander most definitely up. “I was merely commenting that it seemed far too convenient that nearly half my men should be sleeping at the exact same time the rebels escaped.”

The smarmy bastard. Sometimes Ben wished he would say what he really meant so that they could end their games and Ben could lop his stupid head off with the business end of his lightsaber. 

“General,” Ben purred in a menacing tone, “as I am out a significant amount of credits and do not have our two most wanted prisoners to execute, I must state that I find it decidedly inconvenient.” 

“Mm-hmm,” Hux responded, clearly still skeptical. “Be that as it may, I have already dispatched a contingent of troops in the presumed direction of the Resistance. We will catch them yet.”

“I will not hold my breath, Hux,” Ben said with dry skepticism. 

“Hux out.” With that the ginger irritant disappeared and left Ben in relative peace.

~

Unfortunately, that peace lasted no more than a few minutes before Ben could feel a tug on the bond. 

_Rey was awake._

And apparently, she wanted to talk to him. Other than the logistical problem of trying to carry on a Force conversation with someone across the galaxy in front of a bridge full of First Order personnel, Ben didn’t feel ready to talk to her. 

No, that wasn’t precisely true. He was dying slowly in every moment since he arranged Rey’s escape…wanting – no, _needing_ \- to know how she was feeling. That she was better. Ben longed to hold her just as she had asked. He wanted to hold her close and keep her with him. Always. 

Gods, he was tired of fighting. He was tired of being alone. He was tired, full stop.

His every dream featured a beautiful young scavenger and a life they shared together somewhere beyond this one. Yes, dreams supplanted years of nightmares, but there was still never any rest. He knew, if they could just be together, he’d find it. He’d be able to relax and set down the burdens of a decade.

Which sealed his fate. 

Ben promised himself in the moments when Rey was writhing in agony, when he still thought himself powerless to help her with the Force, that if he was able to heal her and get Rey to safety, he would walk away. He would go back to the First Order and try to make the galaxy a place where she could just be safe. Where no one would chase her again and hurt her so badly for doing what she did – scavenge to survive. Whether it was for herself alone or for the Resistance, he would do whatever he needed to do in order to keep her safe. 

He could not be what she deserved, but he _could_ give her a chance to be happy with the friends who had become her family.

_With his mother._

No matter how things stood between them, he knew he could always trust his mother to take care of Rey. That irony was not lost on him. When she could no longer stand to mother him, Leia Organa Solo let him go, jettisoning him from her life like ship’s refuse. Her failure with Ben had never stopped her from mothering the lost and friendless across the galaxy. He figured that she was auditioning for his replacement once she realized that he was a shadow that would always darken the bright parts of her life.

Ben supposed it was a virtue, the way his mother cared for her band of rebels as if they were her own children. But...for the son who frightened and mystified her by turns, it flayed him every time she gushed about the qualities of her latest protege. Ben never understood why he was unworthy of saving by those he loved most. Even Vader was deemed worthy of redemption by the hallowed Luke Skywalker.

And so, he would play his part. Ben would be the galaxy’s boogeyman. He would deal with men like Hux and creatures like the Hutts. His love would be safe. Even if she never knew how he felt. He would allow himself that one sliver of Light. It wasn’t as if he had been good at extinguishing it anyway. Snoke had learned that at his peril. His Light belonged to Rey and Rey alone

Ben felt her presence in his mind, a firm push as she tried to breach its gates. It was an intrusion like the one he felt on Starkiller Base when Rey had given him as good as she’d gotten. In some ways, he wanted to speak with her less than he ever wanted to speak with Armitage Hux, but he knew Rey wasn't going to let up. 

Ben let out a quiet sigh. 

Standing so abruptly that he could feel all the officers around him cringe and sink into their seats, Ben strode to his ready room. The portal slid closed behind him a moment before time and space stretched around the beloved form of Rey. He could feel every cell in his body sigh in relief at the sight of her well and whole.

Even so, Ben steeled himself against that wash of pleasure that spread over his skin whenever their bond connected them. He should be used to the bright oranges, yellows, and sandy browns that announced her Force signature to his mind, but he was still dazzled despite himself. Every part of her was beautiful, her life force no less so than her hazel eyes or the golden tan of her skin. Rey warmed him through like the embodiment of Light that she was. 

She was clearly in one of the bunks on the Falcon, cozied into a corner against the bulkhead, a pile of pillows propped up at her back, and a blanket covering her legs. Her hair was damp around her slim shoulders as if she recently bathed, curling where it would, and she was wearing something that looked soft and comfortable.

Good. She was resting.

The way she studied him was almost unnerving in its thoroughness. Ben waited while she took in his appearance from the top of his head to his boots. He could not imagine what Rey was trying to find. He wore the same uniform each day, as much habit as it was a necessary affectation of the First Order. 

Ben could almost hear her question before she asked. 

“ _Why?_ ”

A single word, but a world of meaning contained inside of those three letters. Rey would not allow him any quarter. There would be no small talk. There never was. Her honesty, her insistence on always addressing the bantha in the room was one of the things he appreciated about her. She came at their conversations that same way she came at him with a lightsaber. Ben always knew where he stood.

At the same time, he longed for the familiarity of small talk. Or the intimacy of sharing the simple news of the day. He wanted to know how she liked her caf. Ben wanted to make her smile by telling her about how one of his guards always sneezed at the same time every day and always five times in a row. He wanted to see those dimples and be charmed by the knowledge that he made her laugh.

Ben wanted a million things, but none of them so much as just her warm, solid presence next to him as she had been in the throne room. No. The lift. When Rey promised to help him and seemed sincere. When her arrival on Supremacy seemed the start of…something important.

“Why, _what?_ ” Ben asked, feigning ignorance. It was a self-indulgent response, really. If Rey had to pry the answers from him than she would be with him a few more precious minutes before the Force took her away. At least that’s what he told himself.

Rey’s eyes filled with tears and Ben instantly regretted his flippant response. When she let out a sob, he nearly fell to his knees. 

“Why did I save you? _Do you really need to ask me that, Rey?_ ” Ben crouched down next to her, searching her eyes for a moment before she squeezed them shut. 

He waited.

Her eyes flew open, spearing him with their intensity. 

“No. I know why. _I know_ , Ben, and still neither of us can say it out loud.”

Ben drew in a quick breath against the nudge under his ribs that was somewhere between joy and pain. Her words were like blaster bolts. _Did she just…?_

“Why didn’t you stay?” Rey cried. “Why didn’t you at least come to me before Poe and Finn took us away?” Rey was crying in earnest now, burying her sweet face in her arms and weeping as if her heart were finally conquered and broken in a way that even a scavenger couldn’t cobble back together.

Ben scrambled to pull her into his arms, uncaring of who might be watching from their place in his father’s ship. Touching her, he was certain he would appear to anyone nearby, but he didn’t care.

“Sweetheart,” Ben whispered, his voice hoarse and low. “I _couldn’t_. I…please don’t cry.” Ben swallowed against the lump in his throat. “I can’t bear it when you cry. It’s too much.”

Rey sobbed harder. “ _Why didn’t you take me with you?_ ”

And there it was. The thing that cracked him open like an egg, his insides spilling out on the proverbial floor. _He left her behind_. Ben knew exactly how much that hurt and that he should be the one to have done it… No matter that she left him in the throne room, he had never had to deal with abandonment on a planetary scale as a five-year-old girl had on Jakku. It was bad enough as an adolescent leaving home to live with family. 

Ben told her the only thing that might help her understand. “I take you with me everywhere, Rey. You are never far away.” 

He leaned back, dipping his head to capture liquid green eyes with his own. 

“You are always here,” Ben told her, placing her delicate fingers on his temple before drawing back to place that small hand over his heart. “And here, Sweetheart. It doesn’t matter where I am.”

Her small body shuddered in his arms. “I’m so angry with you, Ben Solo. You promised I’d never be alone.”

Ben let out a small laugh, though there was no humor in it. “I know you are,” he averred. “And I did, Rey, but this… _our bond_ …it’s the only way that can be true. Surely, you must see that…” He tried to go on, but Rey took him by the shoulders, shaking him for all he was worth.

“No! That’s not what the Force intends for us, and you know it, Ben! Even Poe and Finn said that they couldn’t believe that you would-“ 

Ben placed one masculine finger over her sweet lips. “No, Rey. The only way that you will be safe, the only way that you can live your life without looking over your shoulder _every minute_ , is if I am here leading the Order. I can’t go through this again, Sweetheart. I can’t hold you down while a team of doctors decides whether to take your arm. Or any other part of you. And you know that I can’t come back with you to the Resistance.” 

Rey’s eyes spilled over again and Ben found that he didn’t have the words to ease her grief. He understood it all too well. 

Before she could raise any other arguments, Ben leaned down and placed soft kisses on her brow, on her wet cheeks, on the cute freckles of her nose, and finally, a tender kiss on her waiting mouth. 

When he drew back, Rey’s beautiful eyes were on his mouth, a look of pure wonder on her face. Ben wished that he could lift a hand to freeze time so that he could live in this single moment for the rest of his life.

“Please, Rey,” Ben begged just before she faded from his sight, “let me do this. I need to keep you safe.”

And then she was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there friends! Once again, RL has kept me from updating my beloved fics. 
> 
> What do we think?
> 
> Please leave me some comments. I promise it helps keep me coming back to you as quickly as I can! XOXO


	6. Plans & Traitors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey gets some advice and help from the only other person who knows how stubborn Solo men can be. Ben returns to the First Order where Hux has a surprise for him.

Leia & Rey

Standing in the galley of her husband’s ship, Leia watched in awe as her son snatched the last Jedi in his arms. The love on his face was plain to even the most jaded observer. It was the most painful, beautiful thing she had ever witnessed.

_Oh, Ben._

Joy suffused Leia’s spirit. As if she needed more evidence than that dramatic rescue from the Hutts, here was Ben Solo, alive inside the costume of Kylo Ren. And he was apparently very much in love with a brave and beautiful young woman who was his equal in the Force.

Luke was right. No one was ever really gone.

In that moment, Leia’s priorities shifted. She would see to it that her son would have happiness with Rey if it was the last thing she ever did. Her boy, _her Ben_ , rescued her when her safety should have been the last thing he valued. He risked everything when the discovery of that treasonous act meant his certain death at the hands of the First Order.

It was more than hope. It was a way forward.

A plan began to form. As with all Leia’s plans, there was an element of danger, but any plan the Resistance pursued at this point would be underwritten by their lives. For once, the aims of the general she was were perfectly aligned with those of the mother she was. Somehow, she knew that securing Ben’s happiness would also secure peace for the galaxy.

Five minutes ago…alright _two_ minutes ago, Leia might have considered what she saw as leverage and a way to get to the First Order. As the leader of the Resistance, she’d be expected to do no less. But, now? Now all she wanted was to get her family back and see those she loved, Ben Solo most of all, happy and safe.

Leia slowly shook her head in wonder as she considered how the Force loved symmetry. The way it sought balance in all things. In that light, Ben and Rey together made complete and perfect sense.

For once she was grateful for the parts of Han Solo that were now apparent in Ben. Han would always tear off to “do the right thing” with little thought to how she might feel about it, his stubborn self-assurance that what he decided was right persuading him more than she ever could.

Like father, like son. 

Rey watched Ben fade away before she turned into the pile of pillows and sobbed, letting out a river of grief that dampened the linens. _Ben loved her_. She _knew_ he did.

She also knew she needed rest. Bacta accelerated the healing of the flesh, but it couldn’t heal her spirit.

Love meant _togetherness_. It meant never leaving someone’s side. it was the elusive thing she waited for on Jakku for more than fifteen years. And here it was. Unfortunately, the one thing she most needed from love, it couldn’t _or wouldn’t_ give her. That knowledge was worse than the waiting.

Her decision not to stay with Ben on the Supremacy stabbed at her. Why would the Force connect them this way only to make it impossible for them to be together? Rey stood with the Resistance because it was the right thing to do, but on some level, she was afraid that they couldn’t defeat a war machine the size of the First Order. The Order had access to almost unlimited resources in every corner of the galaxy.

Hope was a comfort, but it wasn’t a currency. It couldn’t buy ships and feed personnel. 

Rey felt a gentle presence a moment before a weight settled next to her on the bed. _Leia._ Suddenly Rey realized what Ben’s mother likely witnessed. Frightened of her judgment, but no less determined to defend herself, Rey sat up and resisted the urge to shrink back toward the bulkhead. 

“Rey…” Leia said with gentle understanding and knowing eyes. “Rey…I’d like to help.”

Rey studied the leader of the Resistance for a moment. Leia looked stronger and more beautiful than Rey had ever seen her. After all that happened to them in the last weeks, it shouldn’t have been possible. Rey suspected that Ben had done more than just heal her.

Rey’s eyes held a question for her leader.

“Yes,” Leia confirmed. “I think you must be right. I could feel Ben’s presence with me at points while I was unconscious. Even the doctors couldn’t explain how healthy I am now. Even if he didn’t, though, I prefer to think he did.”

Rey nodded slowly, still wary of what the general might say next.

“So… _you and Ben_?” Leia inquired, taking one of Rey’s hands in her own.

“We’re…we’re Force-bonded.”

Leia chuckled. “At the very least.” Leia shifted forward on the mattress and gestured to the spot next to Rey. “May I?”

Rey nodded before making room next to her in the nest of pillows. “Of course. Please.”

After getting settled next to Rey, Leia took Rey’s hand again. “Luke and I shared a Force bond, but nothing nearly as strong as what I just saw. We could sense one another. But this…this was…miraculous. And…something more, I think?”

A sniff escaped before Rey could stop it. “Ben…he killed Snoke. To save me.”

“Of course, he did. That sounds like the Ben I remember,” was all Leia said before falling silent for a moment. Rey knew enough of the general to know she was gathering her thoughts. Somewhere in whatever she said next, Rey knew, there would be kernels of wisdom and a plan.

“My son loves you. That much is clear. Unfortunately, he has enough of his father in him to make stupid and bull-headed decisions on behalf of the woman he loves. He believes that there is no other way to protect you. If you plan to love him, you’ll have to forgive him, I’m afraid, Rey. It’s hard-wired in his genes.”

Rey snorted a small laugh. Leia undoubtedly knew from experience. “I have been alone for so long…”

Leia hummed in understanding. “And you’re ready to _not_ be alone any longer?”

“Yes. Exactly.” Rey hesitated a moment. Her next words were a whisper. “What do I do?”

“I have a plan.”

***

Ben

Ben strode down the corridor toward his throne room, his mind on how to best keep Hux ignorant of what he’d done. Since he’d taken over for Snoke, he’d been on Hux’s trail. He knew an eventual coup attempt by the ginger general was somewhere in his future. Even now, he could sense Hux behind the throne room portal, his hatred flowing like blood.

The split doors retracted as Ben entered the space, the ceiling soaring above him, his steps echoing off the walls.

“Ah, Supreme Leader,” Hux growled from the throne ahead of him. “So good of you to return directly so you can stand trial and be executed for treason.”

Ben swallowed past the momentary fight or flight response as two Stormtroopers dragged a man forward, blood running from his head and nose.

The doctor from the hospital ship.

_Fucking Hux._

“The good doctor has been most helpful in sharing information about his latest patients. It seems you might know something about that _Ben Solo_.”

“That would be Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, to you, former General Hux.” Ben strode forward, bravado his weapon as much as the lightsaber at his side.

“I don’t think you understand, Ren. You’ve been caught betraying the Order. Your time as Supreme Leader is finally over!” Hux stood abruptly, grabbing the moaning doctor from the troopers and pulled him by the throat to drop him in front of Ben.

“I don’t think you understand, Hux. My personal history is hardly news to you. All this man could have told you is that my mother and my equal in the Force were treated well. The fact remains that your Stormtroopers failed at securing my prisoners.”

“You were seen entering a room with two troopers who are now unaccounted for. _The same troopers who apparently helped Leia Organa and the scavenger escape.”_ Hux grasped his hands behind his back and began to pace around the prisoner, pausing to kick him as he did.

“And what, exactly, did this alleged sight prove?”

Hux swore quietly to himself and Ben almost smiled.

“The fact remains, Ren,” Hux spat, “that those troopers helped the prisoners escape.”

“Well, then, we can safely assume one of three things.”

“Those are?”

“First, that you don’t have control over your much-vaunted and highly trained troopers.” Ben took a few steps forward, his eyes always on the rabid cur who was, unfortunately, smarter than he looked. “The second possibility is that the troopers acted independently of your orders and let them go.”

“That’s absurd! There is no way they could overcome their programming!”

Ben raised one arrogant brow. “Need I remind you that FN-2187 disproves that statement?”

At that, Hux pulled a blaster from beneath his coat and pointed it at him. The troopers behind and in front of him gathered in closer, waiting, Ben, supposed, to find out who the winner would be and where their loyalty would be directed.

“And third?” Hux growled, his brow sweating as he finally realized his peril.

“Well…it’s the one that I personally consider the most likely scenario.” To all the world, Ben appeared relaxed and in control. It was a trick that he mastered well when serving Snoke. It was time to go in for the kill.

“You set up this situation and had those troopers help the Resistance escape in order to frame me for treason when you are, in fact... _a TRAITOR to my rule!_ ” Ben screamed the last, playing to his audience, knowing that they feared his rages and had heard him utter those same words before.

“You son of a bitch!” Hux screamed in outrage, his blaster letting loose a split second before Ben’s hand rose up to redirect it, hitting his thigh. Hux screeched in pain, falling to the floor and grasping at his ruined limb.

“Take this traitor to the prison block.” Several troopers stepped forward to cuff Hux and carry him away.

“You’ll never get away with this, Ren! I will prove you are a traitor, take my rightful command, make you watch as I take your mother and that desert rat apart piece by-”

Ben could feel the rage rise in him at Hux’s words, and he curled his fist, choking Hux as the troopers dragged the former general toward his prison.

_Over his dead body would Hux ever lay a hand on Rey._

Realizing that there were many eyes still on him, Ben turned toward the remaining troopers. “Take this man to the medical ward,” he barked. “When he is well enough, return him to his ship. And then bring me the trooper in command of the hospital ship mission.”

When he was finally alone, Ben sank to his knees.

Rey was safe for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...yeah...I'm continuing this story in spite of TROS. I may fold in a few of the things I saw, but I'm so irritated by the outcome that I'm just going on with what I want for this story. 
> 
> Anyway...please feed me with likes and comments. Your thoughts and feelings on the latest SW movie are welcome as well. Writing anything for this fandom is really hard right now so I truly appreciate the interaction! XOXO


	7. Empress Outfits and Softly Spoken Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY NEW YEAR!
> 
> Two months have passed since the events of the last chapter when Leia and Rey began to conspire. With the help of Poe and Finn, some of their plans are revealed, along with something else undoubtedly revealing. (Something that, dear readers, I think our favorite Supreme Leader is going to LIKE. A LOT.) Also, Ben gets a bit desperate and finally gives Rey the words neither could ever get the courage to say out loud.
> 
> The plot thickens!!!

The Resistance – _two months later_

“Leia, you know I love you like a second mother, but _what in the hells is going on with you and Rey?_ Ever since Kylo Ren helped us make a hasty and inexplicable exit from that medical ship, you’ve both kept us in the dark. What’s with all this secrecy stuff? I’m an officer in this organization. Finn’s an officer. We want to know!”

Leia mentally counted to five, keeping her face serene. Poe Dameron stood in front of her, one hand on a canted hip, looking for all the world like the cocky, ball-busting hot-shot he was. Finn stood next to him, hip similarly canted, hand similarly positioned.

_Don’t laugh, don’t laugh, don’t laugh_. General. Princess. _Don’t. Laugh. Gods, she loved these young men._

“What a pair you make,” she said with a knowing look. “You almost look like an advertisement for rebellion.” Leia closed one of the ancient Jedi texts that Rey had taken from Ahch-to. It, and the translative powers of C3PO, had been very useful in helping her train Rey for the last several weeks. Add one borrowed lightsaber and they were nearly ready to begin _Operation Ben_. Fortunately, she’d been waiting for either Poe or Finn to crack and demand to know what was happening. She had an explanation.

Poe and Finn were going to hate it.

“Before I begin,” at that qualified start, Poe and Finn both rolled their eyes. “Ahem… _Commanders_ …unroll those eyes or expect to be kept in the dark. This is a need-to-know mission and I may just decide _you don’t need to know.”_

Leia started walking away, heading to the hangar to find Rey. It went without saying that Poe and Finn would follow. Their curiosity and respective egos wouldn’t allow them to stay behind. Sometimes – just occasionally mind you - being the leader was almost too easy.

“General,” Finn pled, “you know we only want to help you _both_. We-“

Leia raised one elegant hand to stop the oncoming high-speed rant Finn was famous for delivering. “Yes, Finn. I realize that. What you _both_ need to realize is that Rey and I are perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves while planning a mission without your help."

“So, there _is_ a mission?” Poe nodded, biting his lip. “I knew it.”

“ _Clearly_ , Commander,” Leia confirmed. “Now, if you want to know anything about it, you can follow me.”

Poe and Finn fell into step behind her, their jaws jutting out in an alpha-male move that reminded her of her late husband’s bravado. _Force preserve her from crusading men._

“Great,” Poe said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation, “that way Finn and I can-“

Leia looked at Poe over her left shoulder, one irritated eyebrow. “ _That way_ you and Finn can listen and not talk. You are being invited as a _courtesy_. Not for your input and strategic prowess. Have I made myself clear?”

Both had the grace to look like chastened little boys. “Yes, General,” they responded in resigned unison.

_“Good.”_

Leia rounded the corner of the hangar. Rey looked up from where she was practicing forms with Leia’s old lightsaber. Crouching in front of an unseen opponent, Rey suddenly leapt through the air in a high, showy arc before landing several feet away. Leia could only beam with pride. Rey had a natural athletic grace and fearlessness that she absolutely knew would take her farther than any Jedi before her.

_Except for Ben._ Not that Ben was a Jedi, by any means, but he also wasn’t a Sith. Whatever he was, he was somewhere in between. Leia had a feeling that between place should always have been obvious to her. Watching Rey, she could feel it in her bones. Here was one half of the balance the Force had been seeking.

Ben and Rey were the balance. A dyad of the Force. A coupling of souls and life forces unlike anything that had been seen in the known galaxy for at least a thousand generations. If that.

It didn’t hurt that Leia already considered Rey the daughter she’d never had. She hoped to call her daughter-in-law someday. If this crazy plan worked.

_Please, please let it work._ Leia waved a hand to call Rey over.

“Yes, General?” Rey asked, smiling and swiping the hair at her temples behind one dainty ear.

“It’s time for our meeting. _The Commanders thought they should be invited_.”

Rey laughed. “ _Of course, they did_. They pestered me all morning for any scrap of information about what you and I might be up to.”

Leia smiled. “And what did you tell them?”

Rey didn’t miss a beat. “Sewing.”

Leia let out a long, knowing laugh. She _adored_ this girl. Ben’s preoccupation with the scavenger from Jakku was certainly understandable. She was lovely in all ways. Rey would make an excellent exiled Crown Princess of Alderaan as well. Not that such a thing really mattered. It just did to her. She would hardly be a queen, a mother, or a human, she supposed, if her mind didn’t drift to such things after the revelation of Ben’s love.

The thing was Rey hadn’t been lying to Poe and Finn. She’d given them a piece of intelligence about the mission, but they obviously discounted it and sought Leia out to get “the real story.”

As Leia ushered them to a small conference room on the base, C3PO took that moment to come up and inform her that “the seamstress had finished Mistress Rey’s Empress outfit.”

Leia sighed. 3PO and his inimitable timing. _Damn_.

“Thank you, 3PO. Please ask the seamstress to bring it to me.”

“What the f-...” Poe’s words, as usual, were spoken with his own peculiar brand of gusto. And volume.

“Commander!” Leia admonished him. “Before you lose your composure all together, how about we head behind this closed door and discuss it like _rational_ people, hmm?”

Poe flushed to the roots of his dark hair. “Yes, ma’am.”

“General, ma’am,” Finn began before Leia once again put a hand up to forestall whatever came next.

“Do not make me regret inviting you both to this meeting,” she said, rolling her eyes while her back was turned away from their male companions. Rey caught her and smirked.

Poe and Finn both fell begrudgingly silent but followed the women in the room. In comic tandem, both men crossed their arms and waited as soon as the doors shut behind them. 

Leia thought of her adoptive mother’s oft-repeated advice that sometimes it was better to dispense with diplomacy and get directly to the point. She decided to follow that advice now.

“As you have probably surmised, Rey has been training as a Jedi under my guidance for the past two months. I’ve passed on everything Luke taught me when I trained with him after the fall of the Empire. What you don’t know is that she has been making that preparation because she will be going on a very important tactical and personal mission for the Resistance. _And for me_.”

Poe raised one dark brow while Finn gave Rey the side-eye. “And that is?”

“While you and the rest of the away teams are out making contacts with our allies across the galaxy to negotiate for ships and supplies, Rey will be creating highly-publicized distractions in other places that are designed to get the attention of the First Order and take the heat off of us.”

Finn huffed out a breath he’d clearly been holding for longer than a standard minute. “What?! _Rey!_ That’s a suicide mission. And what team are you talking about? It’s clearly none of _my_ teams. How come I didn’t know about this?”

And...that was Poe’s cue to jump in. “Do I even want to know what ‘an Empress outfit’ is?”

Leia prayed to the Force for patience but continued sharing the plan she and Rey both hoped would force Ben’s hand in more ways than one. Reaching out for Rey’s feelings, she discovered that the young Jedi was doing everything she could not to laugh out loud at the typical antics of two of her closest friends. Men were supposed to be the calm, rational ones. These two were getting on her last damn nerve right now. Too much testosterone was never a good thing. Any woman who'd spent time on a Correllian freighter with a husband, a teenaged boy, and a Wookiee could attest to that. 

“That’s because her team hasn’t been…well, _chosen_ yet, shall we say. She will find them off-planet. And as to the outfit-“

“ _Hells no._ I’m on her team. I’m leading it. We are not leaving her to rely on strangers. Wherever Rey is going, _I’m going_ ,” Finn fumed, his chin rising as he pursed his lips.

Rey did openly roll her eyes then at the pair of them. “Finn! You are not in charge. _Leia is_. We’ve been working on this plan for two months. I’m strong enough now on my own. I’m at least equal to Be-… _Kylo Ren_. And, Poe-”

Poe, stoked as he always was by his own strong emotions and those of his best friend, took his opportunity to voice is refusal, pacing around with his hands on his trim hips. “No way! We don’t need Rey to be a _damned decoy_. We’re good enough at hiding our movements without the help of any manufactured distractions! General, if I’d suggested that we dangle our most valuable fighter in front of the First Order, especially for my own personal reasons, you’d have told me not to be so rash! How is this a good idea? _And what the hells does Kylo Ren have to do with it?_ We were lucky he had his own reasons to let us go last time, whatever they were. Something to piss off General Hugs undoubtedly.” Poe rubbed his face with two weary hands. “At least that’s what I’d do if I were in his place.”

“As usual, Commanders, you have allowed your stronger emotions to prevail instead of hearing me out. Rey is going to be well-protected by her own contingent of First Order Sith troopers. She is going to influence them with the Force to follow her as Lady Ren. Rey will draw out my son, who, _I assure you_ , will come for her as soon as he knows she may be in any danger from challengers to his rule or bounty hunters. Once that happens, we'll have our chance to talk to him about how best to bring down the First Order from within.”

Poe stopped pacing to stand next to Finn, both stunned into open-mouthed silence.

And that was _before_ C3PO and the base seamstress rolled in a tailor’s droid garbed in a gray leather bustier, leather pants, thigh-high black suede boots, and a black cape and gloves that looked suspiciously like the female version of the Supreme Leader’s famous cloak and gauntlets.

After another moment of gaping, Poe was predictably the first to regain his voice.

“Ok, General,” he croaked, “My apologies in advance, but I'm just not going to be able to hang on to my composure this time. Just… _just_ … _what the fuck?”_

Finn echoed that question by nodding. "That's not an outfit. _That's an entire holoporn video_."

Rey and Leia looked at each other and grinned.

"Perfect!" they exclaimed.

~

Ben 

“Rey… _Sweetheart?_ Please?”

Ben stalked around Rey’s still form. She was standing somewhere at his mother’s base, holding a hydrospanner in one small hand, staring straight ahead. No matter what he said or did for the past few months whenever they were connected by the Force, Rey refused to say a word. She barely met his eyes and it was killing him slowly. His dreams were haunted by her sweet voice. He wanted to hear it reprimanding him. Pleading with him. Whatever. He just wanted her to say something.

Ben sighed and leaned on a nearby stool in the workshop of his quarters. “Rey, you know I couldn’t make any other choice. I… _I miss you_. Does it help to know that it’s hard for me, too? _Please just talk to me._ ”  
  


Crossing his arms over his broad chest, Ben tried to capture her eyes with his. “Are there others around right now? Is that why?” Rey only blinked, and he wasn’t even certain it was in response to anything he said.

“ _Alright, Sweetheart_. You're still angry. I understand. I hope you’ll change your mind, but I can be patient.” He hated that the last few words had come out on a choked whisper. Ben assumed when he told her that he needed to stay at the First Order to keep her safe that they would continue as they had been, talking through their bond. No matter what he did or said, Rey seemed to have closed herself off from him. It was a blight on his soul. 

The hurt of her apparent abandonment was almost enough to make Ben relent, but he knew if he did, he could put her in greater jeopardy than she’d ever been. It turned out that Hux was only the most obvious of a host of would-be First Order conspirators who longed for the chance to use his mother or Rey against him. 

The Force chose that moment to recede, the beloved form of Rey beginning to fade from his sight. Quickly, before she was gone and could no longer hear his voice, Ben whispered the last thing he’d withheld from her, afraid of what it might mean to whatever happened next.

“ _I love you._ ”

Rey’s green-gold eyes snapped to his and Ben could hear her gasp a split second before she disappeared and he was alone again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...what did we think about this? Such a fun chapter to write with the gang. 
> 
> Tell me your thoughts on how Leia & Rey plan to get Ben to discuss detente? ;) 
> 
> What was your favorite part? What do you think happens now?
> 
> XOXO - thanks for EVERY comment and kudo. It's been tremendous the response this has gotten. Especially in the wake of TROS. THANK YOU!


	8. Salted Rain & Dimples

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey is left shaken and a bit angst-ridden after Ben's words. Chewie comes to her rescue with his usual simple wisdom. Then the Force gives our beautiful, stubborn babies a chance to make it right.
> 
> Getting closer to an adventure and a helping or two of smut, my friends! I hope you'll come along for the ride.

Rey

Rey was shaking so badly after Ben faded away that she dropped the forgotten spanner on the floor of the hangar. The sound echoed off the stone and durasteel like a burst of conversation in a sacred space, drawing all eyes to her. Her hands flew to her mouth. Pressing. _Pressing_.

_He said it._

Emotions lashed her. Rey had become practiced in holding her emotions back for years, but those three small words broke through her defenses like salted rain, corroding her composure. She felt blessed and furious. Restive. Delighted. Ready to hit something. Ready to hug someone. Pissed that Ben Solo chose that last second, when she couldn’t respond, to finally tell her. Empty. And then _absolutely fucking complete_. In that order.

Rey could feel herself begin to hyperventilate. _She couldn’t do this here._ She squeezed her eyes shut and grit her teeth as she struggled with the unshed tears and trapped sobs that had aged like wine gone to vinegar over the last fifteen-odd years.

She’d found a bottle like that once. It was on one of the destroyers in the junkyards of Jakku, secreted away in a compartment of an officer’s quarters. It had looked like a month’s worth of portions to a little girl in need of every kind of sustenance. In the end, all it earned her was a slap.

Rey was afraid that if she accepted Ben’s words that life would slap her again for daring to believe that his love would sustain her.

Hold it in. _Gods._ She felt a single tear slip through her defenses and trail down over the rise of her cheek before racing to ride the curve of her neck. Rey wanted to use the Force to reverse its path.

Chewie’s concerned roar sounded somewhere off to her right and Rey could sense him ambling toward her. Chewie would understand. He would shield her. He would _know_.

She imagined often enough what it might feel like to have someone – _anyone_ – tell her they loved her. The reality was even more devastating than she feared. On Jakku, it was a hideous kindness _not_ to have love. Love was scarcer there than food and water. It was as unaffordable as good meat.

Yet here it _was_. Hers for the taking. Rey’s to keep and enjoy. All she had to do was pick it up.

A slow-motion kind of shock settled over her, heat and cold rolling through her cells, leaving Rey feeling like her movements were lifted on bubbles through thickened air. Not unpleasant, but strange and new.

Chewie finally reached her. He grasped her shoulders, lifting and turning her to examine Rey as if she were one of his cubs. The action broke her out of her inertia, and she couldn’t help but smile. It wasn’t clear to her why Chewie had taken to her from the start, but she was more grateful for him than she could say.

A low-pitched groan of inquiry came from him when he met her eyes again. “The boy?” he asked. Rey could only nod while the Wookiee shook his massive head. Chewie was furious with Ben, but Rey knew he also still loved the child of his best friend. It was a conflict she understood.

Chewie set her on her feet again and took one of her hands to rub it between his massive paws, making it appear to their audience that Rey was only nursing an injury from the tool she dropped. Only when the last Jedi appeared to have passed Chewie’s inspection did everyone resume their duties.

“What has he done now?” Chewie inquired gently. A more trusted confidant than even Finn, Rey could never lie to him.

“He told me he loves me,” she whispered, her eyes welling again as Rey waited for Chewie’s reaction.

Chewie grunted and then shrugged one massive shoulder. “Boy not as stupid as I thought.”

Rey laughed. Only Chewie could help her navigate this moment without breaking down completely. Leia was too much like what she expected a loving mother would be like. If she were standing next to her, Rey had no doubt that she’d sob like a toddler.

_Damn Ben Solo_. Next time she saw him, she was going to give him a piece of her mind right before she planted a kiss on that full mouth and…told him she loved him, too. Rey took a deep breath and let it out on a count of ten. 

“Come on,” Rey said, taking Chewie’s arm, “let’s go finish the modifications to my new ship.”

Chewie groaned, stooping to pick up the spanner before walking with Rey to the sleek space-going yacht that Lando had “procured” for the mission. Rey and Chewie were installing hidden shields and weapons systems as well as updating the servants’ quarters for the contingent of Sith troopers that would soon call it home.

Rey laughed when Chewie warned her not to forget that the _Falcon_ was still the best ship in the galaxy.

As if she ever could.

It was almost time to go get Ben.

~

After pushing herself to exhaustion to finish the modifications earlier than planned and a trip to the fresher to wash off the day, Rey melted into the luxury mattress of the bed in the yacht’s master suite. In her wildest fantasies, she’d never imagined a space more luxurious or comfortable than this one. The fact that it would be hers, even for a short time, seemed impossible.

The last two things Rey thought about before she surrendered to sleep were these: first, the new ship needed a name; second, she wished Ben were next to her.

As it happened, the Force would provide that opportunity about four standard hours later. 

Rey woke suddenly when she felt movement at her back. Shooting up in the bed, she called her saber to her hand and ignited it, expecting to find an intruder in the darkened space.

“Easy! Rey… _it’s me!_ ” Ben leaped out of the bed and held up both hands searching for a way to quickly convince her not to separate him from his head with his mother’s lightsaber.

Rey grasped her chest with her free hand. “Lights,” she commanded the ship’s computer a moment before the space was illuminated. She quickly flicked the igniter on the saber and set it on the bedside table.

“ _Force, Ben!_ You scared me to death.” She stared at him as if he could somehow explain what only the Force could.

“It’s not like I meant to scare you, Sweetheart. But if I’d known that it would be the way to get you to speak to me again, I’d have begged the Force to do it a lot sooner, believe me.”

Ben looked happy. And completely, unconsciously edible. Who knew that just being himself would make him ten times as attractive as he’d already been? _The ass_.

Rey let go of the last of her panic, her shoulders slumping as she studied him. He was dressed for sleep the same way she was. Their day cycles must be in sync. His hair was rumpled and… _wonders_ …he was wearing a _white shirt_. It was paired with soft black pants, but _white_? She wanted to laugh. There were a million, million mysteries to unravel with this man. She planned to solve them all.

Ben was oddly still and quiet as if he expected her to banish him if he moved a muscle or uttered another syllable.

He wasn’t far off. Rey suddenly remembered what he’d said this afternoon and there was no way in the seven hells they weren’t discussing it _right now_. And the Force could damn well cooperate.

“How _could_ you, Ben? When you were fading away? You didn’t think that I might want to share that moment with you? That I might want to respond?” Rey’s chest rose and fell with indignation. She wanted to launch an epic tirade at him, but she was afraid that even the durasteel walls and custom insulation of this luxury ship couldn’t hold the force of her shouts and the entire base would come running.

Ben studied her like a schematic. It was an unsettling habit he’d had since their earliest exchanges. Rey could see everything he wanted in that dark gaze. He wanted her words. And he would get them, but not until he explained himself.

“You wouldn’t talk to me. I…” Ben sighed, running one massive hand through his glorious hair. “I was saving it. It was foolish, really, since, technically, I’m the one that has been keeping us apart, but when I finally said it, I wanted it to be when you were really _with_ me.” Ben looked down at his feet as he gripped the back of his neck. “I’m sorry, Rey, but that doesn’t mean that-“

Rey couldn’t help it. She’d be damned if he was going to tell her a second time before she even got the words out once. She scrambled to the edge of the bed and dragged him down to her, framing his face with her hands before she leaned up and to plant a frantic and powerful kiss on those beautiful lips. Ben responded immediately, drinking her in, wrapping his arms around her back, lifting her to him, and deepening the kiss.

They kissed for a lightyear, at least. Rey wasted no time exploring the smooth curves of his mouth, inside and out. She indulged in the cherished fantasy of nibbling the border of his upper lip, following its dips and curves, before laving it with her tongue and drawing it into her mouth. Judging from the frantic groans he made and the steel of his embrace, Ben loved it. She doubted he realized that he was telegraphing through their bond his struggle not to attempt to pull one of them through the bond so they could touch each other for real.

A moment later, Ben pulled back to catch his breath, each reaching to cradle the face of the other. “ _Rey_ …”

Rey moved one hand to smother his big, dumb, beautiful mouth. “I love you, Ben Solo.”

When she moved her hand again, his grin was full of heat and mischief and dimples. _Gods, she was in so much fucking trouble._

Who knew that Ben Solo had dimples? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah...I love the holidays when I can step away from life and write. I have been madly writing this, a new chapter for my AU, Roses & Bacon (please, go read at least the first chapter!) and an original work. I am looking forward to great things ahead in 2020 and I hope you are, too.
> 
> THANK YOU so much to those of you who have stopped to tell me that you are loving this story! It's been so much fun to read and interact. Please stick with me. Let's get these two a HEA, ok?
> 
> What are your thoughts about angst-ridden Rey? What about the way she tells Ben that she loves him, too?
> 
> XOXO!


	9. Vats of Lip Balm & a Conqueress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SMUT ALERT! If you are under 18 or not into that kind of thing, we start with a wee bit of it in this chapter. Move to the short passage after the "~" to avoid Ben & Rey's alone time. Then we end with the start of a mission to ambush the Supreme Leader of the galaxy. Gods this is going to be fun!

Ben

Lying in his bed, Rey in his arms, Ben leaned away from her as her searching mouth chased his, a diabolical smirk on his face.

“Nope. _No more,_ _Scavenger_. It’s too much. I mean, I _knew_ you’d be greedy once you finally got a taste of me, but I never imagined _anything_ like this.” Ben tightened his arms around her as Rey fought against his hold, impeding her progress when she straddled his hips, intent on getting a better approach to her elusive target. She never did give up once she set her mind on something.

In retaliation for the suggestion that she couldn’t control herself, Rey grabbed both his cheeks with rough tenderness and smashed them together until he was forced into an undignified pucker.

“Oh, _come on_ , Ben! You know you’ve been _dying_ to kiss the socks off me since Takodana. You told me not three hours ago that you’ll never get enough of me.”

Three hours? The Force had been more than generous tonight. They’d been making out like horny teenagers for that long and the bond held steady. He didn’t plan to waste the opportunity.

Ben’s eyes danced with incorrigible fire. “That was _before_ I knew that you would attack my lips like a marauding colo fish and sink those sharp little teeth into my delicate flesh.” Ben pouted, blinking up at her, trying and failing to wipe the devilment from his face. It was delightfully easy to get a rise out of his girl. Rey looked so adorably annoyed with him but still dying to kiss him for all that.

He fought to hold in his laugh and gave out a long-suffering sigh instead. “I’m tired of being nibbled on. They’ll be bruised by now. At the very least, they’ll be chapped. And how will that look to my generals, _hmm?_ It’s hard to be intimidated by a Supreme Leader wearing lip gloss.” Ben’s voice turned dark as molasses and twice as suggestive. “I’m afraid you’ll just have to find _somewhere else_ _to put your mouth,_ Rey _,_ until I can invest in a vat of lip balm.”

Rey’s eyes widened before she blew out an astonished and indignant squeak. Ben finally gave in to his own laughter at the look on her face, enjoying the feeling of her bouncing on his chest as he did. _Gods but she was cute._

Outraged, but giggling at the same time, Rey flushed to the roots of her hair. “ _Put my mouth…?_ ” she repeated, nodding. “In your dreams, Solo!”

He rolled her on her back so fast that he drew a gasp. Settling himself between her thighs, letting her feel the heat of his erection right where he knew Rey wanted it, Ben began to suckle a trail up her neck, planting sweet, wet kisses of apology wherever he thought he might have latched on a bit too hard.

“ _Yes, Sweetheart_ ,” he told her, his whispered words spreading warmth on her neck and causing her to shiver. “ _Oh, yes._ Like _you_ , that particular _notion_ features in most of my dreams. Shall I tell you about them?” Ben’s tongue darted out to wet the spot where her neck met her jaw before swiftly blowing cool air to dry it.

Rey shivered but looked askance at him. “ _I’ll just bet._ And no, thank you! No bedtime stories needed. You know, you’re supposed to be a prince, even if you are a dark one!” she lamented. “Instead, I find you’re a total scoundrel!”

Smiling his best pirate’s smile, Ben leaned back to meet her eyes. “Smuggler’s son,” he reminded her with blithe affirmation. “And _your_ total scoundrel, so there’s that.”

Rey threw her head back and laughed. “ _Oh, help._ I give up.”

“Ah! I knew I’d wear you down.” Ben rolled off her just as suddenly as he’d rolled on her where he settled to lounge on his elbows. He gestured down his body. “ _Please._ Feel free to allow your mouth to wander anywhere it wants other than my lips. I am at your disposal, beautiful Rey.”

Rey raised one brow and rather than giving him a snarky retort, she seemed to consider the real estate.

Ben realized he’d never had so much fun in his life. He never knew what Rey would do next. Normally, she gave as good as she got and often bested him at whatever they started. He hoped, no he _really, really fucking_ _hoped_ , the case would be no different for them in the bedroom. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. He could feel it through their bond, and it filled him with undiluted pride.

Straightening her shoulders as if she’d reached a decision, Ben watched in excited fascination as Rey scooted to his side, turning her body toward him, and sliding down the length of the bed until her head was even with his hips.

Ben gulped.

Slowly, so slowly that Ben’s aroused mind wanted to scream in protest at the delay, Rey trailed one tiny hand down his chest, over the muscles of his abdomen, on a journey further south. When she found the erection tenting his sleep pants, she traced its lines with her fingers, grinning as she watched it jump. 

Again, so slowly that he was afraid that it wasn’t really happening, Rey leaned forward, her hot breath warming the thin fabric tightened over him. Very gently, she nuzzled him with her mouth and nose, humming against his shaft as she did. Ben’s eyes rolled back in his head, his whole body awash in an agony of pleasure.

Minutes passed as Rey explored him that way, driving Ben past himself and into madness as he waited for her to take him in her hands. To slide his pants down his hips. To take him in her mouth. _Anything_.

“ _Gods, Rey._ Touch me. _Please_.”

Meeting his eyes, he saw Rey’s gaze go molten as she watched his chest heave in response to her teasing. Oh yeah, here was a woman who had learned her own power. It was the sexiest fucking thing Ben has ever seen.

Rey let her fingertips dance along the elastic of his pants, dipping under to slide the smooth face of her nails along his skin, catching on the dark hair that trailed straight to his cock. Ben groaned, watching intently as she finally grasped an edge and began to draw it down over him.

Ben’s hips rose toward her, intent on helping her claim her prize, as Rey reached up another hand to pull his pants down his hips.

Partially naked and at her mercy, Ben watched in erotic thanksgiving as Rey finally took him in one dainty hand, squeezing him tightly, pumping him carefully. All he could do was moan, his eyes glued to the place where they touched.

Rey just had time to lick one stripe from the base of his cock to the tip before the Force put an end to the encounter.

Ben could only watch in disappointment as Rey faded from his sight.

He fell back on the pillows. “Fuck! _Fuckety, fuckety, fuck, fuck, fuck_.”

Ben sighed. As he took himself in hand to finish the job Rey started, he considered the very real possibility that if the Force did this whenever they got naked, he might not live through his 30s.

_Fuck._

~

Rey

Rey ran a finger over her lower lip, remembering where Ben had done some biting of his own. She was still reliving every moment of last night’s sexy encounter several minutes later when Leia breezed in her old quarters with the seamstress and the tailor’s droid. Rey packed the last of her things from the locker on the base and was ready to go.

She could hardly contain her excitement. Rey’s outfit was going to leave Ben speechless. It was a good thing they were going to be together soon. If she didn’t get to find out what came next after all they’d explored last night, she’d combust.

“Ready for your mission?” Leia grinned.

“Absolutely!”

“Good girl,” Leia chuckled at Rey’s eager nod. “Let’s get you dressed, shall we, Lady Ren?”

Thirty minutes later, after Leia and the seamstress explained the features of what they’d dubbed her “Empress Outfit” and after Leia styled her hair in what she told Rey was the unmistakable style of an Alderaanian bride, Rey zipped up her boot and clipped her saber at her waist.

The seamstress left to pack the rest of her new wardrobe on the ship Rey dubbed the _Conqueress._

"You're breathtaking, Rey," Leia assured her with a hug. "Go get our boy."

"Thank you for everything, Leia. _I will._ I'll bring him home to us."

Leia drew back and patted one of Rey's hands with both of her own. "I know you will. I know it. Be careful, alright?" At Rey's nod, Leia said the words that would be a charm to protect her through whatever came next. "May the Force be with you. Always."

"And you, too, Leia." With one last look, Leia swept out of the room, probably late for one meeting or another. Or perhaps she just didn't want to be there when Rey's ship rose from the hangar. Either way, Rey understood.

Now all there was left to do was hug Chewie and make sure Finn and Poe hadn’t stowed themselves in with the cargo.

One (hopefully) quick pitstop at some godsforsaken outpost to capture and enlist her Sith troopers and she would be in business.

_Operation Ben_ was underway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So..ahem...what do we think? I ADORE playful Ben and Rey. It's the way I saw them after we got a glimpse of redeemed Ben Solo in TROS shrugging at the KOR like a space pirate and swashbuckling his way over to his girl. And...speaking of Ben and his girl...darn the Force anyway. Why does it have to torture them when things are finally getting interesting? All our space babies wanted was a little alone time. No matter, Rey is a woman on a mission. She's a Conqueress. I think she'll get what she wants one way or another. ;)
> 
> Thank you SO much for your extremely kind comments and support of this fic. I have some comments to respond to and I want to make sure that I make each one as personal as it can be, so thank you for your patience! In the meantime, I hope you'll leave me with a few more to tell me how you enjoyed this chapter and what you think happens next!
> 
> XOXO


	10. Lady Ren Gets an Entourage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lady Ren makes an appearance and picks up a few essentials. Then, poor Mitaka has to deliver some news.

Rey

Rey followed the landing sequence she’d memorized when she and Chewie rewired the navigation system of _The Conqueress_. The ship would normally require a full complement of crew members to pilot her, especially when making planetfall, but that was the purpose of her first stop. In the meantime, the modifications that allowed her to fly and land the ship on her own were working just as tested.

After more than a day’s travel at light speed, Rey finally arrived at Ord Mantell. An old Empire stronghold, the planet was home to backdoor, under-the-table deals between smugglers, gangsters, and the First Order. It was basically a pirate’s paradise in a dusty corner of the Mid Rim. The First Order tolerated it because the dregs of its society were always happy to feed them information for the right price and because it was home to an inherited former Empire deepdock. Out in the middle of actual nowhere, it served as a star destroyer storage and repair facility for the First Order. This was where damaged ships limped after the Resistance took a bite.

Her presence would draw more than a little attention on a planet of First Order diehards and bounty hunters. Most importantly for Rey, Ord Mantell was the home of a contingent of Sith troopers who were there to intimidate and keep the peace when the planet’s inhabitants required a reminder that they only lied, cheated, and stole at the Supreme Leader’s behest.

In short, it was the perfect place to introduce herself to the galaxy.

A hail came across the comms. “Pilot,” came a stern voice of warning with a Coruscanti accent, “you are in restricted air space. Identify your craft and provide your landing authorization codes or be destroyed.”

Rey blew out a quick breath. It was showtime.

Rey lowered her voice and took on an affected, bored tone that was pure Kylo Ren. “If you put so much as a scratch on my ship, I will have you court-martialed and fed to a rathtar. This gorgeous piece of precision machinery is _The Conqueress_ and I am, of course, _Lady Ren_. I presume my husband informed whoever is in charge of hell’s outpost that I would be arriving to refuel and take on personnel before joining him on the _Finalizer_?”

“We were given no such directive. Land at pad 5A and prepare to be boarded.” Before Rey could respond, the transmission was cut off.

_Excellent._ She was counting on the idiots to investigate such an audacious claim. The entire galaxy knew that the Supreme Leader was unattached. She could sense from that exchange that they were also interested in commandeering her ship. Over her dead body. 

After guiding the ship to the pad, lowering the gear and shutting down the engines, Rey pulled her hood over her head and buttoned the finished top portion of the cape around her. Unclipping it from her belt, Rey took her saber in hand. Her head held high, she stalked toward the back of the ship as the rear ramp descended, her cape swirling around her.

Striding down the ramp, Rey twirled the saber in her nimble fingers. Directly opposite from her, a grizzled piece of humanity in a First Order uniform and his guard marched up to her, blasters drawn.

Without preamble, the man demanded, “What is the meaning of this? The Supreme Leader will have you executed for-“

Rey reached out one hand to lift the arrogant officer several inches in the air and Force-choke him into silence. With her other hand, she twirled the hilt of her saber before widening her stance and stomping one booted foot just before igniting it. The signature move of Kylo Ren.

She could hear several gasps around her from the crowd of hangar troops who stopped to gawk at the unfolding scene. Some First Order personnel, it appeared, didn’t need more convincing than that as the proof of her identity.

“How dare you? Do not presume to tell me what _my own husband_ will do,” Rey hissed. “If you do not bring me the two squads of Sith troopers that Lord Ren ordered assigned to me, I will have you dancing on the end of my lightsaber before you draw another breath. _Have I made myself clear?_ ”

As if on cue, two squads of Sith troopers in their menacing red uniforms marched by twos into the hangar and approached the landing pad. Undoubtedly, they were there to threaten, intimidate, and fight, if necessary. Little did they know they’d be doing that _for her_ and not for the First Order.

Rey tossed the choking officer to the floor, forgotten. “Ah. Here they are now. _Excellent_.”

Turning toward the troopers, Rey allowed her voice to carry to be heard by all. “I am Lady Ren, _Supreme Consort_ of the First Order and the galaxy at large. You are the Sith troopers who have been assigned to serve me and me alone.” Her words were not a question. Rey waved her free hand under the fabric of her cape, using the Force to influence their response and gain their cooperation.

She almost smiled when it worked because she could feel their minds relax into their new reality. Both squads gave a little bow and beat one fist against their chests in a salute that acknowledged her command. It was, by far, the riskiest thing she had ever done. Also, the most entertaining. She wished that Ben were here to see her, but that would happen soon enough.

By that time, the officer stood in front of her once again, splotchy with outrage. “ _This is absurd._ There is no such person as Lady Ren because our Supreme Leader has never connected himself in _matrimony_. We would have been informed. This base has also received no missive from our esteemed leader. I don’t know what game you think you are playing, but you will surrender your weapon and come with us willingly, or, I assure you, every last trooper here will fire upon you at my command.”

At those words, both squads of Sith troopers turned in unison to put themselves between her and the rest of the hangar, taking defensive stances to protect her, their weapons at the ready.

Rey was really starting to enjoy this. And…even though the Dark Side had its appeals, all she really wanted was a home with the man she loved.

Standing on her toes to see over the shoulders of the troopers in front of her, she looked the officer in the eye. “We’ll be going now. If you value your life, I would strongly recommend that you do nothing rash, whoever-you-are. It’s not going to go well with your career if I am harmed or mistreated. Plus, if my guard will not destroy you in retaliation, I have every faith that my husband will burn this place to the ground if I come to harm.” Rey leaned forward and gave her audience a stage-whisper. “ _You might have heard that he has a bit of a temper_.”

She could have sworn the officer winced. Rey could feel his panic. Poor man. No matter if he decided to attack her now, he would still be punished later for allowing her to land and steal no less than twenty highly-trained Sith troopers right out from under the nose of the First Order.

It couldn’t be helped. She would ask Ben not to execute him. At that, Rey marched back up the ramp, her troopers at her back.

Moments later, she set the coordinates and _The Conqueress_ rose gracefully from the pad to speed off to its next destination. Rey had never been to Coruscant.

Ben

“Supreme Leader,” Dopheld Mitaka called, entering his personal training space to interrupt his forms. It was an unwritten rule that no one interrupt him while he was training.

Ben sometimes felt sorry for the young officer. He seemed always to draw the short straw when someone had to deliver news. He reached out to probe the edges of Mitaka’s mind. Whatever it was, the lieutenant was even more afraid to tell him than usual. _Interesting._

“Mitaka,” Ben said with annoyance, “is it in any way unclear to you that I do not wish to be interrupted when I am training?”

The normally placid young man stuttered. “N-no…Supreme Leader. That is, I am aware, b-but Allegiant General Pryde insisted that you’d want to be informed at-at once.” He finished that painful sentence almost reluctantly, swallowing hard. With a cringe, he seemed to be waiting for Ben to stab him with his saber or Force choke him.

“ _And?_ ” Ben hissed.

“And…” Mitaka stammered again, carefully handing Ben a holopad before snatching his hand back, “well, my lord, it seems that a young woman with Force…err _talents_ …appeared at the deepdock on Ord Mantell claiming to be Lady Ren…th-that is _, your wife_ …and…well, sir…she…”

“What? She what, Mitaka? _Spit it out_.” Why did he know the Resistance was behind this?

“She made off with two squads of Sith troopers.” Mitaka promptly covered his head with both arms and tried to make himself as small as possible.

Ben ignored that reaction. He hadn’t had a tantrum in months. No. _Weeks._ He’d forgotten about the bulkhead on E level. But still.

He tapped the screen of the holopad to see whatever it was that Pryde thought Ben needed to see immediately. What he found was several minutes of security footage showing the unmistakable form of his scavenger in an exchange with the base commander at Ord Mantell. She was hidden under the hood of a black cloak that looked strikingly similar to his. He supposed it was possible that it was someone else who looked like his girl, but when he zoomed in to the footage, he saw that she was wielding his mother’s saber.

“You’re telling me, lieutenant,” Ben stormed, keeping with the persona of Kylo Ren, “that one tiny woman landed on a secure base in a _space-going_ _yacht_ and the commanding officer simply _gave_ her two squads of my personal guard?”

Mitaka straightened the tunic of his uniform and drew in a deep breath. “Allegiant General Pryde was told, my lord, that… _ahem_ …she was very _convincing_.”

Ben sighed. Convincing. _So, his beautiful girl had learned to control crowds with her mind._ If he wasn’t so afraid for her safety and what reckless thing Rey might do next in a scheme that had his mother’s fingerprints all over it, he would have beamed with pride.

_Rey,_ he tried to communicate through their bond while Mitaka tried to skitter away, _what in the seven hells do you think you’re doing?_ He was going to throttle her the next time he saw her. Probably with his mouth.

“Do we know where this woman is headed now?” Unless they had flouted protocol and every last one of them was as stupid as their commanding officer had been, Rey’s ship was even now being tracked by the scanners on Ord Mantell.

“Coruscant, we believe, sir,” Mitaka answered, jumping to attention as Ben strode past and into the hall.

“Prepare my ship.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alas...I wish every chapter could have Ben/Rey banter! This one is Rey getting to use a little of her Dark Side and Ben realizing that his girl is going to lead him on a merry chase. IF she doesn't get one or both of them killed first. Shenanigans!!!
> 
> What do you think? Yes, she's hiding under that cloak for the moment. Rey wouldn't want to ruin the big reveal just yet.
> 
> I want to thank you all for the stream of comments and kudos! As I try to lift my Star Wars spirits through writing, it has been such a blessing to hear from you. I hope you'll continue to engage with the story and tell me what you think!


	11. Free-Flowing Testosterone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finn & Poe are nosy and Ben just won't budge.

**Poe, (Finn, & Chewie)**

“C’mon, Chewie,” Poe demanded. “I know you know where Rey went. Finn and I just want to be able to back her up. She’d do the same for us and you know it.”

Chewie let out a few blistering groans that blew back Poe’s hair.

Poe held up his hands. “Ok. _Ok_. We know we have missions of our own to worry about, but-“

“But how will you feel if she’s in trouble and we’re too late to help her? Are you ready to lose someone else we love?” Finn was fuming.

Poe looked back at Finn and raised an eyebrow. In general, Finn had two speeds. Intense and _hyperdrive_. Poe figured that his current level of angst was enough to get him two systems over in the blink of an eye. The general had Connix give them a bogus departure time for Rey’s mission and she was already gone by the time Poe and Finn had packed their gear and gone to the hangar to try to talk her out of the crazy scheme or at least go along for support.

Finn looked at him, realizing that he’d just interrupted Poe for about the thousandth time since they’d met. “Sorry,” he mumbled before throwing up his hands and falling back on the Falcon’s lounge seating.

Rose took that moment to break over the Falcon’s comms. “Uh, guys,” she said, “I think you’re going to want to come here and look at this.”

“Thanks, Rosie, but not now,” Finn called. “We’re trying to get Chewie to tell us where Rey went.”

“I _know,_ ” Rose said. “That’s why I’m interrupting all that free-flowing testosterone. I know where Rey is. Well, where she _was_ at least. In fact, pretty much _everyone_ now has at least some idea where she is. It’s all over the holoweb.”

Poe, Finn, and Chewie tripped over themselves trying to fit through the door of the Falcon’s lounge until Chewie wailed for them to get out of his way.

Poe rolled his eyes and whispered to Finn. “Always let the Wookiee win, remember?”

**Rey**

“I don’t care what First Order protocol is, Officer,” Rey told the ranking member of what she had dubbed as Alpha Squad. “You will each choose a name and you will not wear your helmets while you are on board.” Rey could see the troopers piloting the craft glance at one another, clearly also unused to being so exposed.

“But, ma’am-“

“Also, no calling me ‘ma’am’. I’m Lady Ren or Rey.”

The captain looked crestfallen and utterly uncertain how to go on. He likely had no idea how to operate without the strictures of the First Order or his elite unit. Having Rey set aside the rules he wore like clothing for so long meant that he’d have to take responsibility for himself and those who reported to him in a way that the First Order made sure he’d never learned.

Rey knew she probably needed to maintain some distance, but whenever she looked at these troopers, she saw Finn. “I promise that you _can_ do this. You can reclaim at least part of who you are. No one will punish you for it, least of all my husband. I promise you. He will be pleased that you obeyed my orders and did everything you could to protect me. It takes a while to get used to a new identity. Believe me, I know, but I have full faith in all of you.”

“Thank you, Lady Ren,” he acknowledged.

The trooper clicked his heels together and gave her a small bow before tucking his helmet under his arm to stride away to the ready room. She would love to be a fly on the wall as he explained to both squads that they would need to choose names and leave their helmets hanging in the lockers near the hatch, but she didn’t want to crowd them. Rey also didn’t want to treat them like shiny new toys she couldn’t quite believe she had. If she was going to pull this off, they needed to believe that being assigned to her was always part of the plan.

As soon as _The Conqueress_ was airborne and on its way to Coruscant, Rey called a meeting to lay out her expectations and to find out who among the squad had been cross-trained in piloting and other necessities. If there was one thing that could be counted on, Leia said, it was that the First Order cross-trained it’s team members, especially those that were frequently off-ship. It wouldn’t do to have their drones incapable of traveling back to the mother ship or serving a meal when there was no one else to handle the practicalities of flying or cooking. Rey had not been disappointed. There were three squad members who were skilled pilots. Two had been TIE fighter pilots before moving to the Sith troopers to serve under Kylo Ren.

Rey felt a shift in the air around her, the ringing in her ears a familiar and dull whine that heralded the appearance of the other half of the bond. _Ben was here_. Rey stood abruptly from her place at the conn of the ship and stalked over to her private quarters, slipping into the lounge area just before Ben materialized.

Looking down at herself, she did a quick check to verify that the cloak still covered her outfit. It wasn’t time for her to reveal it to him yet. No, she was saving that surprise for when he wasn’t made of ether.

Ben was already standing with his arms crossed over his chest, glaring at her, his tunic sleeves straining against the bulk of his muscled arms. Rey expected this, but it was tempting to just stand there and stare at him. He was so beautiful. From the disgruntled look on his face, someone in his command must have informed the Supreme Leader that he was now _minus_ twenty troopers and _plus_ one wife.

His next words confirmed it.

“ _Mrs. Solo_ ,” came that deep voice that sounded the way whiskey tasted. All heated darkness with a hint of sweetness and smoke. “You’ve been busy.”

Rey knew that he was angry with her. Through their bond, she could sense that he was also afraid for her safety, though he might never express that fear out loud again. He didn’t need to. It was clear from their exchange after he saved her from the Hutts that Ben was doing all – or at least _much_ \- of this to keep her safe. It was a charade. Kylo Ren was just a persona at this point. She loved him for it, but she didn’t need him to protect her. She needed an end to the war. She needed people to stop dying. Most of all she needed to carve out a place where she could stand next to him without either of them worrying that those around them would burn them down.

Rey needed to tell him all of that, but the problem just then was that her brain was addled at the sound of Ben calling her ‘Mrs. Solo.’ _Yes_ , t _hat’s the plan, my love_. Among other things that would help the whole galaxy.

Rey smiled. Full wattage, with her eyes and teeth and dimples.

Ben let out a snort and shook his head. “Abandon that strategy, Sweetheart,” Ben growled as he leaned down toward her. “You are not going to smile your way out of this! _You’re beautiful_. And I’m not foolish enough to let that matter when you are in danger. _What insane scheme have you and my mother cooked up and why?_ ”

Rey only smiled wider and stepped closer to him, tilting her chin up. “I’m beautiful? _Hmm_. I’ve never considered that, but it’s nice to know you think so.”

The distraction worked for a moment. “I said as much last night when I gave you free rein over my body, Rey.”

A delicious chill raced up her spine and lust settled into the pit of her belly. _How?_ How could one person’s voice among a trillion others do things to her body like that? Rey suspected that it would always be that way with Ben.

Rey blushed slightly, plainly aroused by the knowledge that Ben was so attracted to her. It made her feel more herself than anything else ever had. “I think you’re beautiful too,” she admitted, running hot eyes over his frame. “In every way that is masculine. _In every way possible._ ” She finished that last on a whisper.

Ben let out a small grunt, leaning toward her as if he couldn’t quite stop himself. Until he did. Realizing that Rey was purposely putting him off, one dark eyebrow shot up in warning. “Tell me.”

Ben wasn’t having it.

_Damn_. She longed to be kissed by those full lips again. Unless she missed her guess, she’d have her opportunity to do it in person very soon.

Alright. She would give him the explanation that she rehearsed with Leia, both knowing this question would come just as they had known that there were Sith troopers to be found on Ord Mantell. It was her why. Her every reason. “Did you know that before I left Jakku I carved 5,336 days on the wall of the ruined AT-AT for every day I waited for my family to come back?”

Ben’s brows fell, his eyes softening as he understood where she was going with that question. “ _Rey…_ ”

Rey swallowed against the emotions and raced forward. If she was going to get this out, she’d rather he stay angry just then. “That’s _128,064 hours of loneliness_ , Ben, calculated in Galactic Standard Time. I waited _fifteen years_ for someone – anyone – to claim me. To love me.”

“Sweetheart,” Ben whispered, his large palms rising to cup her face just beneath the rim of her hood. “If I’d known any of this was ahead for us, there is nothing in this galaxy that would have stopped me from finding you and-“

Rey nodded, relishing the weight of his hands _and_ his words. “ _I know, Ben._ I know you would have.”

Her voice turned harsh now. She couldn’t help it. Ben needed to understand. “But if you think that I am going to carve those same marks on my own heart every day we are apart because you want to keep me in whatever semblance of safety you think lies with hiding in old bases on random planets, then you need to think again. I will never wait for love again. There is a way forward for us. _The Force knows it and I know it._ I am not afraid.”

Ben’s head dipped and he rested his forehead on hers. Rey could feel the war that was raging inside of him. It was leaking out through their bond like gas through fissures in a ship’s cooling system. He let out a mighty sigh.

“Rey,” Ben began, his voice no more than a rumble, “you know that I want you with me every moment. It’s what I’ve always wanted, but-“

At that Rey started to pull back, ready to continue the argument, but Ben’s hands moved to her upper arms to grasp her more tightly.

“ _No._ Just listen. Please.” Ben let out another sigh, this one smaller and tinged with the bitterness of resignation. She could feel his sadness on that breath and the corresponding emotion lodged in her chest.

“Yes, the First Order is chasing the Resistance, but those skirmishes are few and far between. I have been counting on my mother to be the worthy opponent that she is and thank the gods that she _is,_ Rey. There’s a measure of relief in knowing that she is so vigilant. That moment after we defeated Snoke’s guards was a small window for us. We might have been able to enforce a new rule in the midst of that chaos, but that window has _closed_.”

When Rey moved to clasp Ben’s cheeks in her hands and refute what he was saying, but this time Ben was the one to rush ahead and explain. “I am tired of fighting, too, but the First Order is more than just a war machine that can be turned on and off at my order. It is a large and widespread government. It is full of politics and intrigue the same as the Republic. Worse because it is a government largely without scruples except for the ones I can sneak past them by making them think those things are _their_ ideas. Hux is no longer in power, I made sure of that when he figured out that your escape from the hospital ship was a ruse, but, Sweetheart, there are countless others who are conspiring against me. They will likely _always_ conspire against me.”

Ben dipped down again to kiss the two small tears that were trailing down her cheeks. Until he did that, Rey hadn’t realized that she was even crying, but Ben sounded so hopeless. She hated thinking of him in constant danger. Always dancing on a saber’s edge. _For her_.

“And I would be the easiest way to get to you?” Rey wavered for a moment. Just a moment.

Ben nodded. Rey knew that he could not trust his voice to acknowledge his deepest fear.

Rey stepped back until he was at arm’s length. She could read the confusion on Ben’s face, but if she gave in now, they’d never move forward. She was done being lonely. She was done setting her feelings aside for everything else. Were they supposed to wait five years? Ten years? Never? Enough. She didn’t care what the risks were or what the odds might be. It would be so much more devastating to her if she never tried.

“Do you know how it feels to be loved so much? It’s…it’s…I don’t think I have the right words for it. It’s everything I ever wanted and so much more than I expected. But this? These stolen moments where neither one of us is actually here? It’s not enough for me, Ben. And you can’t tell me that it will ever be enough for you. You aren’t the only one who is willing to sacrifice to protect what they love. The First Order could destroy any place I choose to hide at any moment. I’m done hiding. I am not going to waste this life loving you from light-years away _._ ”

Ben’s eyes softened again at her words, but he gave her a single shake of his head in denial. “Please, Rey. We could keep going around with each other about this. Please don’t force me into something that puts you in danger. Keep the troopers. Add them to your numbers, but please stay away from the First Order.”

With that Ben disappeared.

Rey could hear the proximity alert blaring from the front of the ship. They were coming out of hyperspace.

Coruscant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew! Things got intense there at the end. A Solo in love is a thing to behold. Also a total PITA for his girl. That's ok. Rey almost gave in, but she's keeping her eyes on the bigger picture. Besides, he totally forgets that she's a badass. 
> 
> Dying for your comments and thoughts on this chapter and what's going to happen on Coruscant! Oh, I can't wait.
> 
> Thank you ALL for the many kind compliments on this story. They keep me going! XOXO!
> 
> P.S. - Fun Fact: the days and hours I calculated that Rey was waiting on Jakku are based on Galactic Standard Time. Weeks in the SW universe are 5 days and Galactic Standard Time is based on Corsucant's 24-hour day cycle and 368 day solar year. Thanks Wookieepedia! And yes, those of you who have read my first fic, Sunlight & This, you've seen this calculation before. It was a little nod to my first baby. ;)


	12. Glamorous, Filthy, Dangerous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lord and Lady Ren hold a meeting on Coruscant.

Ben

Coruscant’s Galactic City was an unholy mess on its best day. A seedy, sparkly, glamorous, filthy, dangerous mess. Ben always hated staying there with his mother when he was a child. By the time he was wandering the galaxy with Luke Skywalker, he liked it even less. Rey had never been to anywhere like it and his overactive imagination could conjure a thousand different varieties of trouble she could find in two thousand vertical stories of stone, glass, and humanity. After what happened with the Hutts, the idea that anyone might get close enough to hurt Rey again made him physically ill.

Despite his directive, not for a single moment did Ben believe that Rey was going to stay away. After the stunt on Ord Mantell, the First Order, along with every bounty hunter from here to Naboo, was fast on her heels. Which is why he was currently speeding toward Coruscant, hoping to intercept her before some fool with a death wish knocked her out and dragged her to General Pryde for a big payday and a very public execution.

Or worse. It was Coruscant. There were most definitely _worse_ fates than a First Order firing squad lurking on the lower levels.

If _anyone_ dared harm _his_ wife…

His heart stuttered. _He considered Rey his wife._ When had that happened? If Ben was honest, long before she declared herself Lady Ren. The Force didn’t make mistakes.

In truth, he’d done a little investigating after Crait and it wasn’t exactly a lie. In the absence of an acknowledged planetary government or mandated marriage protocol, general galactic law applied on more primitive worlds. A declaration made by two consenting beings constituted a legal union. There were some more populated planets, like Chandrila and Coruscant, where that declaration had to be made in front of witnesses, but there was a good bit of legal precedent that suggested that once they’d touched hands and told each other that they’d never be alone, _he and Rey were married._

_Mrs. Solo._ Gods he’d loved saying that out loud. Just once.

As his shuttle made planetfall, the spires of Galactic City stretched before him as far as the eye could see. Undulating rivers of vehicles dotted the skies in long ribbons of motion that went every direction from the lowest levels of the towers up to the luxury levels. Rather than an orderly flow of traffic, one just dove straight down and into the fray, hoping for the best.

The shuttle prepared for landing at the First Order’s luxury tower where the Supreme Leader had a penthouse of three floors in the most fashionable district of town. The shuttle furled its massive wings when he touched down, towering over the city and the luxury air speeders that sat on the edges of the pad. Despite finding Galactic City repugnant, Ben had to admit that he wouldn’t mind taking a spin in the sleek black high-performance air speeder that sat to his left.

It was more likely that he’d need the power it provided, not for any joy ride, but simply to keep up with whatever Rey planned.

As the ramp descended, he was met by the staff of the penthouse, lined up in the livery of the First Order. Ben nodded once before striding toward the lift that would take him to the study on the main floor of the suite. The butler greeted him, following close on his heels, assuring him that everything had been prepared for his arrival.

“Very good,” he acknowledged. “Thank you, H-7.” Ben winced at the thanks he offered the delighted man. Kylo Ren didn’t _thank_ anyone. His mother’s endless lessons in etiquette and proper manners had never let go just because he’d changed his name.

“It is my pleasure, my lord Ren,” H-7 beamed. “We have also taken pains to provide _Lady Ren_ with a proper welcome. If there is anything she prefers, I hope you will direct us so that we can see to her comfort.” Ben couldn’t help it. He turned bodily to stare at the dignified but excitable little man and just gaped. _Rey was here?_ He hadn’t felt her in the Force, but perhaps she had learned to mask her Force signature?

H-7 ignored the look on his face and simply continued as if Ben weren’t staring at him as if he had just grown the features of a Chandrilan squall. “And, if I may be so bold, Supreme Leader, the staff and I offer you felicitations on your marriage. We are honored to serve you in any case, but especially on such an auspicious occasion.”

Ben could only nod in mute surprise. “How were you informed that Lady Ren would be joining me?”

“Oh, her advance team contacted me not one standard hour ago using your personal codes.”  
  


“ _I see_ ,” Ben responded. “She will be landing here shortly?” _He was going to wring her beautiful neck._

“My goodness, no, my lord. I should have said. Her team indicated that her ladyship will meet you at the press conference to announce your marriage together and then you will be sharing a private meal before returning to the residence.”

Ben lacked the composure and presence of mind at that moment to stop his mouth from dropping open.

Oh, his mother was good. _Really, really fucking good._

Ben understood the scheme completely now. The leader of a rebellion had to be an expert at the art of ambush. What did you do when you could not amass an army to fight back? You used every diplomatic trick you had ever known to force your opponent into a decision that sent the scales in your favor. He’d seen her do it a thousand times as a boy while waiting for her to be done with negotiations in the Senate hall.

Leia Organa Solo knew that Ben might be able to set the dogs of war on the Last Jedi from across the galaxy, but he’d never leave Rey unprotected in their midst. He would always come for her. He’d already proven that. His mother, the former legislator, likely also knew a few fun facts about Coruscanti marriage laws. She’d probably written the damn things.

She meant to have Ben acknowledge Rey in public and send them off into a First Order sunset. If he weren’t feeling exactly as ambushed as he was, he’d have applauded. At his first opportunity, he planned to tear a verbal strip from his mom for dropping Rey – and him – in the kind of political shitstorm that the First Order high command would rain down on them at the news of their alliance.

Hells, he might not even be able to go back after this. Knowing her, his mother likely had anticipated that as well. Leia Organa Solo was never left without Plan B.

Still, there was no way he could leave Rey to the fallout if he didn’t show up to this farce of a press conference or if he denied her publicly. Ben would be expected either to kill Rey on sight or take her into custody. This way, Rey and his mother assured that if she were taken to the Finalizer, she was going as the cherished wife of the Supreme Leader as well as the mouthpiece of the Resistance.

_Brilliant._

As for Rey…the bond didn’t allow them to lie to one another. He knew she loved him. And she was just reckless enough and naïve enough to see this plan as the only way to force Ben’s hand. He sighed. He was beaten. There was no help for it. Somewhere at this moment, members of the galactic press, numbering in the thousands, from every news agency around the galaxy would be gathering at some pre-arranged and glittering spot to witness the biggest news story in decades.

“H-7, can you please have the itinerary sent to my personal holopad?”

“Already taken care of, my lord. Lady Ren was certain that you’d want the information and had her staff ask us to take care of it. She also suggested that your attire be semi-formal.”

He couldn’t help it. Ben shook his head and chuckled. It was almost worth the look of wonder on the butler’s face when he did it. “Oh, she did, did she? Lady Ren is looking after my every need already, I see.”

“A good partner always does, Supreme Leader. How lucky you are.” H-7 was a romantic if the fond and far away look on his face was anything to go by.

“Yes. _Very lucky._ ”

He thought of his beautiful bride. Ben couldn’t deny that whatever happened, there would be certain…compensations. H-7 was correct. Rey would definitely be looking after his every need from now on.

_Starting in his bed._

Rey

“Lady Ren,” Captain Rekkon informed her, “Lord Ren is waiting for you on the dais.”

“Thank you, Captain.” He nodded at her his helmet rattling a little, reminding her again of Finn. “I like the name, by the way. _Menacing_.”

The man only nodded at her, but she was thrilled to sense some humor and no little amount of pride there. Excellent. 

Returning to the matter at hand, Rey drew in a calming breath. She was glad for the hood that covered her head and a good portion of her face. Pursing her lips together, she assured herself for the tenth time since she’s entered the antechamber to get ready for the press conference that the lip stain was still there. Every hair was in place, carefully coifed for this moment. It was critical, she and Leia had agreed, that Rey be transformed from desert scavenger to femme fatale if this plan had any hope of working. She was woman enough that she wanted to surprise and titillate Ben with her vampy new look, but she knew she needed to give the very clear message to First Order high command that Lady Ren _was not to be fucked with._

Releasing the clasps that held the front of her cape together, she checked to make sure her saber still sat at her waist and then pulled the edges of the garment together.

She knew that if Ben was here, he’d either resigned himself to going along with Leia’s scheme or the seven hells were about to break loose over the ballroom of the Hotel Manarai. Either way, Rey was ready.

As she walked from the antechamber toward the double doors of the hotel’s grand ballroom, Rey reached out to the Force, letting it flow through her, bolstering her as she stalked in thigh-high boots toward the unknown.

One of her squads walked with her, surrounding her, guarding her against unforeseen danger. Already she appreciated them and prayed to the Force to keep them all safe tonight.

The massive doors opened with a flourish. Directly in front of her, as Leia had arranged, there was an aisle that led straight to a raised dais where she knew Ben waited for her. The hood prevented her from seeing more than his boots at that point, but it was the unmistakable form of the Supreme Leader.

On either side of her, a hush descended over the crowd despite the fact that there must be a few thousand people seated in row after row of the massive room. Every eye was on her, necks straining to find a split in the crowds in order to see her progress up the long aisle. It was the first time during this entire escapade that Rey had felt any glimmer of fear.

_Don’t turn coward on me now, Sweetheart._

Ben. He was speaking to her through their bond, encouraging her of all things. It reminded her that she was the self-same woman who had landed on the Supremacy in a tiny escape pod to reclaim him from the Dark. And she had. Somehow, she had.

And that was all it took for Rey to lift her chin and stalk down the aisle, her hips swinging in an enticing rhythm under her cape.

“ _Ladies and gentlemen of the galaxy_ , here she is now...”

Rey continued to move toward him, keeping her eyes on his remarkable face as he introduced her. _Ben was going to claim her._ In front of the entire galaxy. Emotions warred within her: fear, hope, love…but the one that she recognized above all other was _pride_. She was so proud to be going to him. Her equal in the Force. _Her love._

Rey lifted the hem of her cape to tread carefully up the steps, taking her place next to him, placing her hand in his outstretched palm. This standoff would end very differently than their last one.

Ben continued, raising their joined hands higher for all to see, “…I am proud to present to you a woman without equal, my equal in the Force, scion of the Resistance, and the famed and formidable Last Jedi…”

This was it. Rey threw back her hood and shrugged the black cape from her shoulders, feeling it slide behind her to the floor. A collective gasp went up from the crowd before a flurry of holocam flashes and a cacophony of questions hit them both like a wall.

Ben finished his sentence, though it seemed unnecessary. “…Rey of Jakku. Lady Ren, _my cherished wife_.”

Rey’s voice rose after his, straining over the sounds of the crowd, confirming Ben’s words and claiming him in turn. “I bring you greetings, Lord Ren, husband, Supreme Leader of the First Order and the galaxy. I send my wishes to all our peoples for a peaceful and prosperous future together.”

At that, Ben turned away from the fascinated crowds to see what she was wearing.

Judging by the look on his face, Rey was nearly certain that Ben had swallowed his tongue and was no longer breathing.

Rey Solo smiled at her husband. And then she winked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok...hit me with it! Anything and everything...thoughts on their meeting? I hope it hasn't disappointed so far. :)
> 
> Not to worry. Next up we will MOST DEFINITELY get Ben's reaction to her outfit. :)
> 
> Again, I can't thank you enough for your wonderful support, my little AO3 family. Thank you for reading and for the wonderful response to this story. XOXO


	13. Assassination Attempt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despite Rey's observation at the end of the last chapter, our dear Supreme Leader has not swallowed his tongue and is still breathing. That doesn't mean he's ok. Rey's Empress Outfit is...well...have a read. And then, and THEN...
> 
> This is a short chapter, friends. I wanted Ben's point of view to stand alone. The next chapter is already in progress.

**Ben**

Ben was wrong. This wasn’t an ambush _. This was an assassination attempt._

Rey was trying to kill him. He couldn’t decide if it was more likely that he was going to drown in his own drool or the lack of blood to his brain. Or maybe priapism. Could he die of that? Right at that moment, it seemed possible.

_Holy gods._

Rey smiled and then winked at him and the flare of lust that action incited in his groin nearly made him take her to the ground and ravage her in front of half the galaxy. As it was, Ben had to stop himself from dragging her forward by the hand he still held.

His eyes ran from the top of her head to the tips of her boots. His _wife_ was every wet dream Ben ever had. Rey’s beautiful hair was gathered and braided on top of her head in the unmistakable style of the brides of House Organa. The hair at the back of her head fell in large, luxurious curls well past her shoulders. It made him happy to see it long and loose because it meant that she was able to shed the practicalities of subsisting on Jakku and live without the cruel limitations forced on everything from what she had to scavenge to the length of her hair.

Ben wanted to drape her in every luxury. If Rey would let him, he would give her everything she had never even imagined.

Her face was made up carefully, just enough here, not too much there. Her eyes were the star of the show, done in a dark, smoky palette that made them look ocean green. A berry-colored stain on her lips begged to be smudged and then kissed completely off. Ben planned to get to that.

His visual journey continued down her body to the gray leather bustier that pushed up small but perfectly rounded breasts for his appreciation. _And oh, how he appreciated them_. The moment Ben got her alone, he planned to use his teeth on the wide, scarlet ribbon that crisscrossed her bodice and cinched in her tiny waist before it ended in a beguiling little bow. That accomplished, he would trail his tongue over the sweetheart shape that framed her breasts before dipping inside.

Matching gray leather pants with red accents hugged her small hips and rounded just slightly as they followed around her body, hinting at the perfect little backside that he knew he could cup easily cup in one hand. And while he hated to peel the thigh-high black suede boots off those sexy legs to get her naked, _Rey was going to damn well put them right back on_ _so he could fuck her with nothing on but those._

It was going to take him hours. _Days_. But if he was going to die, he was going to die a _very_ happy man.

Rey Solo was a Warrior Goddess. A Princess of Light. And she was all his.

Suddenly, Ben smiled back at his wife and wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her close to his side. The press surged like an attacking animal, an echo rising at their renewed barrage of questions. The masses shoved one another, jockeying for position as they all struggled to capture on holocam the unmasked and strikingly handsome Supreme Leader giving his gorgeous bride the first genuine smile they had ever seen break across his face.

The action was unprecedented and the ripple effect it caused was utter chaos. The shouts for the galaxy’s newest power couple to “hold it right there” and to “kiss!” became deafening.

For the first time in a long time, Ben felt like he might have everything he ever wanted or needed. With Rey’s hand in his, it felt possible for them to navigate their dangerous new situation and come out the winners on the other side. Despite the wolves of the First Order. _Despite his Skywalker blood._

Ben decided to give the crowd what they wanted and lifted one brow to his willing bride. He bent his head toward Rey whose eyes were shining with delight at her new circumstances. Capturing her mouth in a soft kiss, Ben leaned into her touch and lost himself in the feeling of kissing her in the flesh for just a moment.

Which is why neither of them sensed the blaster bolt that hurtled toward them from somewhere in the balcony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM OVERWHELMED BY YOU! Thank you ALL for your wonderful, generous comments. I cannot tell you what it means to me that so many of you have stopped to give kudos and make comments. What a treat. You are the BEST.
> 
> Apologies again for this short chapter - I didn't want anything else to interfere with Ben's point of view or what happened there at the end. Because...CLIFFHANGER!
> 
> So...what do we think of Ben's reaction to Rey's outfit? I hope it didn't disappoint.
> 
> Also, I humbly beg that you please don't throw rotten vegetables at me for that last sentence. The next chapter is in process. It's going to be ok! Maybe!


	14. Cooperation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben saves Rey saves Ben.

Rey

Ben’s unexpected smile held Rey in its thrall. When he leaned down to kiss her, her heart leaped with joy and her pulse raced with exhilaration. For those moments, there was no one else in the room.

_Ben was hers._

It hadn’t exactly been a wedding. Not that she’d know what one was like, but it was as close as Rey was likely to ever get to a ceremony of her own. For the last two months, she had been training, planning for, and working toward a moment like this one. Now that it was here, it was everything she hoped it would be.

She’d spent hours kissing Ben while the Force allowed it, but _this_ …feeling the warmth of his lips, wrapping her arms around his strong shoulders, breathing him in, it was bliss. Rey was counting on Leia’s guess that widespread press coverage would make them a spectacle and help keep them safe when they returned to the First Order. At least until the novelty of their alliance wore off. She hoped so.

Rey knew that Ben was going to have a few words with her and with his mother. Despite the sweetness of their kiss, she was under no illusion that Ben would be happy that she took advantage of his desire to protect her. Her worst fear in this scheme, the thing she feared most, was that he would not believe she loved him. 

It was when Ben started to pull back that Rey felt danger coming for them much sooner than either of them could imagine _._

_A blaster bolt._ So much for relative safety. When Ben tensed, she knew that he sensed its approach as well. She could feel his panic like bile in her throat. They had fractions of a second to either stop the bolt or move out of its path. Given that the bolt had a head start, it seemed unlikely that either solution would result without at least some injury to one or both of them.

While she raised her hand to guide the Force, a move that she expected Ben would mirror, Rey suddenly felt herself shoved behind him as he turned to meet the advancing danger alone. _No!_ Stubborn, pigheaded, wonderful man. If he walked away from this unscathed, she was going to murder him!

Rey fought to stop the beam, the Force flowing through her hand in the same way she watched her husband do in the forest on Takodana when he had been hunting her to discover Luke’s location, her hand shaking as the bolt’s energy fought to take its intended path. The problem was that the skill was something Ben practiced many times. He made it look easy, a truly useful tool in battle or if anyone tried to take down Snoke’s enforcer by shooting him in the back. 

She tried stopping and redirecting a blaster bolt a few times while training, but it was almost impossible to find anyone in the Resistance who would shoot at the Last Jedi. Poe asked her if she was experimenting with glitterstim. Finn ignored her. Chewie just flat out refused. Leia had been the first to do it and only because Rey begged. She’d done it successfully, stopping the bolt to move it to hit an undeserving rock, but she was not yet as adept as Ben.

Watching it over his shoulder, Rey’s hand protruded from the space between Ben’s long torso and his arm. Her husband turned his head away from the bolt as it approached, his eyes closing in the scant moment when he realized that it was still coming and they might be too late to stop it.

Terror overtook her and she wanted to scream at him to raise his arm, but Ben held them out to his side, trying to make himself a wider target, assuring that he would take the impact and she would be unharmed. Tears filled her eyes and she widened her stance, willing the Force to flow through her unimpeded.

_You can do it, Sweetheart,_ Ben whispered through their bond.

Rey was weeping in earnest now, loving Ben all the more for his faith in her. The red bolt wavered in her vision as she devoted herself to stopping its path toward the man who had quickly become her everything. Darkness rose up inside her, she could feel its black tendrils flowing, meshing with her Light, the two aspects of the Force entwined in a holy communion of power.

Time seemed to slow, allowing her to sense the bolt as a three-dimensional thing. A thing made of all the elements of the universe and the Force itself. _Stop_ , she commanded it, reorienting its atoms, overpowering it with the same persuasion she used to take her troopers from Ord Mantell.

With few inches to spare, the bolt finally halted in its tracks, the crackle of its particles loud in her ears, its red light glowing on Ben’s face. Rey continued to channel the Force at the bolt. Watching in satisfaction as it turned at her command, thanking it for its cooperation, Rey sent it careening back to their attackers in the balcony.

Shouts of terror from the audience gave way to the deafening uproar of cheers and applause.

Ben opened his expressive eyes, their edges softening as he looked down at her over his shoulder. Before she could guess his intention, he dipped to kiss the tip of her nose causing their audience to “oh” and “ah” over that sweet action. Still holding her eyes, Ben lifted one hand toward the balcony.

Two hunched figures froze in their tracks, straining against the hold that Ben had on them. Rey remembered well that feeling of helplessness. Their attackers were well and truly caught. _Good_.

Rey looked to Captain Rekkon and the rest of her team. “Detain those two and bring them to us aboard _The Conqueress_.”

“Right away, Lady Ren.” Captain Rekkon raised a hand to dispatch two from his squad while Ben’s escort took up closer defensive positions around them.

For the third time since Rey had joined Ben on the dais, the press began to shout questions at them:

_“Will the prisoners be executed?”_

_“How did you meet?”_

_“Will Lady Ren have an official role in the First Order?”_

_“Will you start a family?”_

_“Is Lady Ren as powerful as you?”_

_“Is the Resistance working with the First Order?”_

Ben’s voice rose up over them, giving them a message to take to the far corners of the galaxy, “Let this be a warning to _anyone_ who would dare to plot against our rule. _We are the balance of the Force._ We will usher in a new era of prosperity for the galaxy. You will hear more from us in the coming weeks.”

With that, Ben retrieved Rey’s cape and placed it around her shoulders. It warmed as much as the cloak to know that despite his wishes, Ben never hesitated to team up with her today when everything was on the line. He took her hand and they walked down the aisle as one.

The ballroom broke into applause, the shouts and questions following them out of the double doors.

Ben

He led Rey to the ramp of her ship. Her hand was still clasped tightly in his, their fingers laced together. Ben hadn’t spoken since his statement in the ballroom. Neither had Rey.

If they were doing this, Ben didn’t want an audience. They needed to talk about the crazy plan she and his mother set in motion. He needed to shout at her for putting herself in danger. Ben wanted to praise her for what she’d done with the blaster bolt. He needed to check and see if he was still the leader of the First Order. They needed to figure out a way to stay alive in the short term. 

All those things were true, but so were these: Ben needed to kiss her senseless and peel her out of that outfit. He needed to lick his way up every part of her body. He needed to get her a ring.

Once aboard, Rey gave her overawed crew instructions and then tugged him along to her personal quarters.

“Sorry,” she whispered as the doors slid closed behind them, “I don’t think they were prepared to see you marching up the ramp. They’ll get used to it.”

Ben didn’t answer, he simply watched her as she searched for some conversational gambit that was appropriate for all that had happened in the last day cycle. 

He wasn’t sure there was one.

Ben decided that almost all of it could wait. Except for one thing.

“Tell me, Sweetheart,” he said with characteristic frankness, “was it part of the plan to have Dameron and Finn shoot at me from the balcony tonight, or were they operating under the misapprehension that you needed to be rescued?”

Rey’s shaking hands rose to her face and she held back a small sob. “It was definitely the second reason. I would never have-“

Ben could sense her distress as she recalled the terror of the brief seconds where his fate was in her hands. All Ben knew was that no matter who was shooting at them from that balcony, he’d have given his life to keep her safe.

Ben found that, just then, he didn't want to shout at her as much as he wanted to hold her. He pulled her in his arms. “Shh, Rey. I know. I just needed to hear you say it. And my mother?”

Rey pulled back, her gaze latching on to his, “No! Ben, your mother insisted on keeping this secret. We only told Poe and Finn the night before I left. They never had a part in this. I want to strangle them both. I could have lost you.”

He tried to mask his reaction to Rey’s words, but he could not hide the relief he felt. Ben knew he would never stop wanting to be Leia’s son, even after everything that happened. Even when he knew that she was doing this just as much to forward the interests of the Resistance as she was to help Rey carve out a way to be with him. 

Ben was wary and grateful all at once. But all of that could wait until later. Rey rested her head on his chest and Ben swayed her gently, relishing the weight of her small, strong body against his at last. Rey was his. She had chosen him and whatever happened next. And that fact outweighed every other thing that still lay before them. 

“What now, Ben?” Rey whispered.

Ben hummed in response. “Now, my beautiful wife, I suggest we have that meal you told my butler we’d share and then we head back to our official residence to find out just what the First Order thinks of its new Consort.

Rey squeezed him and then placed a playful kiss in the center of his chest which sent heat racing through his body. His wife tipped her head back and grinned at him, stealing Ben’s breath once again.

“I could eat something.”

He chuckled. “I think that’s a good idea. I have a meeting with a red ribbon and a tiny bow later," Ben said, his lips finding the delicate shell of her ear, "and I expect it to go… _long_.”

Rey shivered in response and suddenly, Ben felt happier than he ever thought possible. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, my friends! Thank you again for all the wonderful responses. I'm so glad to chat with reader friends old and new!
> 
> This chapter might not have been the most fun or exciting of all so far, but I love that the way our couple chose to handle the danger. Ben using his body as her shield and Rey using Ben's Force trick to save him. I expect lots of cooperation like this in the future! :)
> 
> What are your thoughts? I'm always interested to know. 
> 
> Coming up...We have to deal with the people who are not so thrilled above the Supreme Leader and his new Consort...and...Ben is going to have that meeting with that flirty red ribbon. ;)


	15. Duality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the galactic spectacle at the hotel, Ben and Rey speak with a servant and a general about their marriage. Both offer felicitations, but we all know that only one is genuine and there is still danger on the way. The new Supreme Consort plays her role with relish, but Rey from Jakku is going to need a minute. And we know that Ben is always going to give his girl whatever she needs.
> 
> No smut in this chapter, though, friends. Sorry! RL has been kicking my behind and I just couldn't squeeze it in. I hope a chatty, fluffy Ben will make up for it. 
> 
> Next chapter, though! ;)

Ben

He wondered how many times he would need to think or say, “my wife” before it sunk in. By galactic standards, they’d been married twice over. It was foolish and dangerous, but Ben couldn’t deny that he was elated that Rey was his wife.

His girl had come for him again. Rey risked everything to be with him. Ben wasn’t going to do any less.

Rey was next to him, holding his hand as they descended the lift in the official residence. They’d eaten a simple meal aboard Rey’s sleek and aptly-named ship, _The Conqueress,_ before heading to their temporary home. It was a dream. Ben was determined that it not become a nightmare.

Before he could finally get her alone, he and Rey needed to confront the First Order leadership and get their reaction to the situation. Even now, troops may have been dispatched to take them prisoner as traitors. The culture of mutiny went back to the days of the Empire.

Instead, the doors of the lift slid open and Ben found H-7 there, ready to welcome him back and greet his new mistress.

“ _My Lady Ren_ ,” H-7 gushed while executing a courtly bow, “welcome to Coruscant and the Supreme Leader’s official residence. I am H-7. It is my honor to make your acquaintance. I do hope that you will be comfortable here. If I, my staff, or the hospitality droids may do anything to make your stay more comfortable, I hope you will call upon us day or night.”

Rey’s eyes danced with delight. Ben knew that a friendly welcome by a solicitous butler was the last thing she expected when the lift opened. He’d seen her free hand move to her saber just in case they were attacked. He’d done the same.

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance as well, H-7,” Rey nodded, every inch his Consort in looks and manner. While the desert formed her, it never clung. Ben marveled that his wife could adapt to her surroundings with such ease. “Thank you for such a lovely welcome. I am sure that everything is in order, but there _is_ one thing I require.”

H-7 practically bounced on his feet, eager to provide the Supreme Consort with whatever she wished. “Yes, your ladyship?”

Rey smiled and leaned forward, a conspiratorial look on her face. “What is your real name?”

Ben had to bite his lip to keep from laughing at the perplexed look that came over the butler’s face. “Your ladyship? I’m afraid that First Order protocol requires…that is…I am not _permitted_ to-“

Rey nodded. “Yes, yes, I know. I’m afraid that I cannot refer to you as a letter and a number for the whole of our acquaintance. And you did say _anything_ to make my stay more comfortable. Your name?”

Ben watched as H-7 blushed but rose up on his toes and pronounced, “I am Silus Ataran, your ladyship. Born of a long line of Atarans in proud service to the finest families in our galaxy.”

“Thank you, Silus,” Rey responded with gentle approval. “I appreciate that you are willing to make an exception for me. I am certain that our stay here will be among cherished memories of the early days of our marriage.”

If it was possible, the servant formerly known as H-7 turned an even deeper shade of scarlet. It was clear from the stunned look of adoration on his face that, like Ben, Rey had captivated the man with the simple act of using his name. Ben always thought that he would be the one teaching his desert girl. It turned out that she had much to teach him. She was a natural leader of people. It made him want to be better than he was.

“Silas,” he began, trying not to laugh at the comic look of shock on the face of a man who clearly had no frame of reference for being on a first-name basis with the Supreme Leader, “has General Pryde contacted me in my absence?”

Silas clasped his hands behind his back. “Yes, my lord. He requested that you and Lady Ren contact him at your earliest opportunity.”

“Thank you. We’ll make contact in my study.”

“My pleasure, Lord Ren.”

Ben took Rey’s hand and led her to his study. Or more properly, _the Supreme Leader’s study_. Like everything else about the First Order, the décor was a ruthless combination of blacks and reds with the occasional bit of white that struggled to hold ground. It reflected nothing but domination. While it had just been a reality for him while serving Snoke, it now felt like something that could taint his wife. No matter where they made their permanent home, Ben vowed to himself, he was going to give Rey something that felt like one.

Moving to the hologram device in the center of a small table, Ben activated it and then waited to see the face of General Pryde before him.

“Supreme Leader,” came the patronizing voice of his second in command. “ _Ah_ …and I see your lovely bride is beside you. Please accept my best wishes on your nuptials, _Lady Ren_.”

The way that Pryde ogled Rey while still offering her thinly-veiled disdain made Ben want to leap into the communicator and punch the shit out of the decrepit Empire holdover. He could sense the man’s hatred and lust riding high.

Rey gave him a warning glance before turning toward Pryde. “My thanks to you, Allegiant General Pryde. I am looking forward to our first meeting. Your reputation precedes you. The Supreme Leader has indicated that you are a capable strategist.”

Pryde inclined his head as if Rey’s comment were his due and he was indulging an ignorant servant. It pissed Ben off with the kind of intensity that threatened every bulkhead and stick of furniture in his immediate vicinity. He wanted to murder him quickly and then go back for seconds.

Fortunately, his gorgeous, brilliant wife wasn’t having it.

“I am certain, then, that you will grasp the advantages of our union for the First Order and the galaxy.” Ben watched in aroused fascination as his Warrior Goddess tossed her hair over one shoulder and looked down her tiny nose at this minion of bygone days. “ _My_ expectation _,_ general, is that we will work effectively together and that you will honor my orders just as you do my Lord Ren.” Rey leaned forward a little, her eyes staring directly into those of the image projected before them. “We are equals in the Force, after all, my husband and me. I hope I’ve been _entirely clear_.”

Damn it all. Ben grinned. Just like that, his thoughts quickly went from murder to torture. He was going to force pleasure on his powerful, sexy wife until she begged for mercy.

The general tried to smile at Rey, but it had the effect of pulling rotting skin over an old corpse. Ben doubted the man had smiled in the last several decades. It was ghoulish and utterly chilling. It was also entirely fake.

And it had been _exactly_ the way to handle the man. It didn’t earn two credits toward keeping them any safer when they returned to the First Order, but it made clear that Rey was willing to use violence should it be required. Ben wondered if his wife understood exactly how brilliant she was. _Or how fucking hot._ Not ten standard minutes ago she was charming the socks off a butler. And now she was making clear to one of the most powerful men in the galaxy that Rey Solo was a rule unto herself. Enric Pryde looked like he had just swallowed an entire forage worm.

It gave Ben no little amount of satisfaction.

“I trust that you will prepare my quarters to make my wife as comfortable as possible?”

Pryde’s eyes narrowed just slightly. Not nearly enough for most people to notice, but Ben was not most people. _Ah, so he was already up to something_.

“Of course, Supreme Leader. Everything will be in readiness to welcome your bride. I will see to it personally.”

“Excellent. We will join the regular morning briefing tomorrow from here.”

“Very good, sir. Pryde out.”

When the Allegiant General ended the session, Ben turned to look at Rey. He could sense her thoughtful mood through their bond.

Rey huffed out an irritated breath. “ _Is it just me, or does that man plan to kill us?_ ”

~

Ben grabbed Rey’s hand and led her through the portal at the opposite end of the office. It was time for his date with that red ribbon.

“I think that we should operate under the assumption that he is planning to do exactly that,” Ben told her over his shoulder. “We are going to need to be constantly on our guard.”

Rey tugged on his hand, halting their progress toward his bedroom, stopping just inside his private salon. “You’re worth it.”

When he turned to look at his wife, the expression on her sweet face was so earnest, so concerned, he was instantly reminded of their time in the lift on Supremacy. Ben could see the tremble in her lips that betrayed a hint of insecurity. He sensed her sudden need to sort things out before they took this thing between them as far as they could. After all Rey’s bravado today, it seemed his girl required his reassurance that they were in this together.

_If the Force were a person, Ben would shake its hand and thank it endlessly for the perfect creation that was Rey Solo._ Courage was going after what you wanted even when you were scared. She weighed the danger and didn’t hesitate to throw her lot in with his. She was incredible.

His hands went to her cheeks and he looked deeply into the hazel eyes he loved so much.

“ _Sweetheart_ ,” Ben whispered before joining their lips in a soft kiss. “What do you need to know? That I love you? _More than breathing._ That I want you? So badly that if I don’t have you soon, I think it might cause permanent damage.”

Rey’s eyes widened at that pronouncement and he almost chuckled. _Almost._ But Ben wasn’t done yet. She needed to understand. “Do you need to know that I choose you? That I’ll always protect you? _Yes_. And with my life.”

“I love you, Ben,” Rey whispered.

Ben brought his forehead down to hers, needing their connection as much as she did. “I know you do. _Thank the Force._ I don’t deserve it, but I’m selfish and greedy and I’m taking it with both hands. It was hell being without you after the Supremacy, thinking that you didn’t feel the same. Having messed that up _so badly._ But today? Once I knew where you were headed, I couldn’t get here fast enough. I was terrified that something would happen to you.”

Rey opened her mouth to protest, but he beat her to it. “And, _yes_ , before you tell me so, Rey, I _know_ you are more than capable of taking care of yourself.”

Ben closed his eyes and let out a long breath, his voice just above a whisper. “It’s just that… _I_ want to. I want to take care of you and belong to you and be your husband. That’s been true since we touched hands over a fire. I don’t need pronouncements in front of the galaxy, though from a legal and public relations perspective, it certainly helps.” Rey let out a huff of laughter at the last.

“You may have forced my hand today, but I know why you did it.” Ben dropped his hands from Rey’s cheeks and reached for her hands, finding them by instinct before threading their fingers together. “We’re both going to be in danger no matter what path we take. I’m tired of fighting, but more than that, I’m tired of being alone.” He could feel tears rise. “I would never trust anyone else to have my back and I will never stop defending yours.”

His wife let out a cleansing breath and Ben opened his eyes, waiting for her reaction. Rather than words, Rey just stared up at him, nodding.

“Well, then,” she pronounced, before taking his hand and pulling him toward the portal that led to his sleeping quarters.

Ben frowned. “Well, then, _what?_ ”

Rey threw him a mischievous look that heated his blood. “Well, then, _Supreme Leader_ , I must remind you that you are late for a date with _a red ribbon_. I should warn you, though, that said red ribbon brought friends who are tucked away where you can’t see them… _yet_. I hope your teeth are up for the challenge.”

Ben laughed a rusty and full-bodied sound he hadn’t heard from himself in years while the temperature of his body went nuclear.

His Warrior Goddess was back. _Yesssssssss…_

“I have always been diligent about my oral health.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love these two. Both of them are naughty and nice in the best ways. When one is stumbling, the other pics them up. I'm having so much fun with this fic. I hope you are, too.
> 
> Sorry about the red ribbon thing. :) I promise all the honeymoon fun is coming!
> 
> Thanks for being so patient the last week. I have had so little time to do this and I've been fighting off the illness du jour. 
> 
> Finally - 300 kudos was so lovely to see. Thank you! And your comments are AMAZING. Just killing me. I love them, so.


	16. The Laws of Motion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SMUT WARNING! If you are younger than 18 or frank (but hopefully skillful) descriptions of intimacy between two married, loving, consenting adults is not your thing, then please skip this chapter and come back for the next installment! You've been warned with the tags and this message. Thank you!
> 
> Ben and Rey finally get to enjoy some alone time. Ben's POV.  
> P.S. This chapter is LONG. You've all waited long enough and I thought I would extend to say thanks for your patience!

Ben

As Rey pulled him over to the bed, something occurred to Ben.

“Tell me, my lovely Consort, how did you know that I had plans for that red ribbon?” Ben smirked at his bride and raised one curious eyebrow. “I don’t recall ever speaking that thought aloud. You weren’t poking around in my brain, were you?”

Rey raised a corresponding eyebrow, circling Ben and eyeing his body like a prime nerf steak. It had never made him more grateful for the many hours of training he’d subjected himself to in the name of survival. _Rey liked what she saw._ He was delighted to be at her mercy. For the moment.

“Well, my dark Space Prince,” Rey quipped, as she ran one finger up his spine sending heat racing through him, “I have been doing a lot of training the last few months. _And reading_. I _am_ a Jedi, you know.”

Ben chuckled. “ _’ How to Breach Someone’s Mind without Detection Through the Force_?’ That one’s a classic. Chapter 8 alone is riveting. A galactic best-seller.”

Rey gave a distracted hum as she stepped around to look at him again, leaning in as if she were going to kiss him. “Actually, I _do_ have the original _Aionomica_ and the other ancient texts, but it wasn’t hard to figure out what you were thinking just then.”

Ben could feel his jaw hit the floor. “ _You have the_ …of course you do.” Ben couldn’t help it. He burst out laughing. His bride was full of surprises today. “What was it that gave away my plan?”

“Well, you were so shocked by my choice of outfit, you did leave the bond wide open.” Despite Rey’s grin, a delicious blush traveled up her cheeks.

Ben’s hand came up to the back of her neck, pulling her in for an open-mouthed kiss that had their tongues dueling for dominance.

“Yes… _this outfit_ …” Ben trailed off, inviting her into his mind, letting her see the fantasies up close again. Rey shuddered with arousal and anticipation. Gods, Ben _loved_ the push and pull between them. He hoped it was always like this.

“I know where I want to start _, little Jedi_ , but have _you_ decided where to begin?”

He wanted to kiss away the little furrow that came to her brow at his question. So, he did.

“What do you mean?” Rey seemed puzzled.

Sometimes Ben forgot that this bold young woman could be inexperienced at anything.

“Well, Sweetheart,” Ben explained tenderly, tucking a strand of brown-red hair behind one delicate ear, “you seem like a woman trying to determine her next move. Or have I mistaken the reason that you’ve been circling me like a Mandalorian claiming his bounty?”

Rey snorted at him and he grinned. “Oh, you’re _enjoying_ this, aren’t you?”

Ben denied that accusation with an emphatic shake of his dark head, but then said, “Only about 1000%.”

Suddenly Rey swooped up on her toes to capture his mouth with hers, dragging his head down with her small hands to give her better access. Wrapping his arms around her waist, Ben pressed her into his body letting her feel the strength of his arousal. Rey moaned, grinding against him before breaking their kiss.

“Fine,” she admitted, panting, “how do I get you out of this godsdamned uniform?”

Ben smirked, deciding he had teased her long enough. He reached up to his collar and popped one of the hidden latch closures that held the front of his uniform together. Her eyes widened slightly, and he could just about read her mind as she discovered the thing she’d missed. That was a split second before Rey attacked him. One distinctive pop followed the other until she pushed the tunic over his shoulders and let it slump to the floor.

Rey didn’t miss a beat in tearing the soft black shirt he wore underneath from his trousers. Finding she wasn’t quite tall enough to get it over his head, Rey gave it a vicious yank, forcing his arms up to help her get it off.

“Rey,” Ben said from the tangle of his shirt, “maybe don’t try to decapitate me, hmm?”

“Then help me!” Rey humphed. “I don’t know how you got that thing over all that hair, but it seems as if the Laws of Physics should have made it impossible.”

“Physics?” Ben questioned, fighting a smile. “ _Sexy._ ” The truth was that Rey Solo would be sexy no matter what she said or did. She was the smartest person he’d ever met. He’d probably get hard listening to her recite the Laws of Motion.

As it was, watching her undress him for the first time was enough to make him worry he’d come in his pants. No wiles required.

Rey lowered back to the floor and looked down at her feet, her arms over her chest. “Oh,” she said, letting out a small sigh, rubbing one self-conscious hand over her forehead. “I’m bad at this. I was afraid I would be. You must-“

Ben shook his head in vigorous denial, pulling her hand away from her face. Scooping her up in his arms as he had the first time he’d seen the most beautiful girl in the galaxy, he strode the remaining steps to their bed.

“Every word of what you just said is wrong,” Ben growled, not even noticing that he had reverted to the overused statement of his sanctimonious uncle.

Setting her in the center of the bed, he looked down at his princess and took in the view. Rey’s breasts threatened to spill out of the leather with every trembling breath. 

“At the risk of sounding like a bad holovid, you have absolutely no idea what you do to me, do you, Sweetheart?”

Rey’s head gave a little shake, her lips parting slightly as she waited for Ben to try to explain what she would soon learn for herself. Needing to feel her against him, he wasted no time crawling over her. Bracing his knee between her thighs, he settled his erection against the junction of her thighs, caging Rey in with his arms. She squirmed against him, seeking out his heat.

Her eyes gleamed with an intoxicating combination of innocence and carnality. Ben didn’t know what it was about this woman, exactly, but from _moment one_ he felt compelled to tell her everything that ever crossed his mind. All he knew was that he wanted Rey to be the keeper of his stories.

“When I first saw you in the forest, I thought that you had to be the most beautiful thing that the Force _ever created._ ” When Rey started to shake her head in denial, Ben grasped her chin in his firm grip. “ _Yes._ _Yes_ , Rey. Every moment after, even when we argued, that thought has been confirmed. I’m sure there are other women out there, darling, but they couldn’t be more invisible to me if they vanished into thin air. It’s like that first time we were connected through the bond. _There is only you, Rey._ Everything you do…every word out of that perfect mouth captivates me.” Ben leaned down to bury his face in her hair. He let out a breath that felt like it had been held for more than a decade. “I want you so fucking badly.”

Ben ground his cock into her core, trying to make a home for himself in that warm cove. They both gasped as sparks of desire ignited between them. “There is no wrong way to do this, Mrs. Solo. We’ll learn together.”

The emotions in Rey’s eyes morphed to wonder and desire as she reached for him and pulled him down into a scorching kiss. When she drew back, he could see that his words had made her happy. _His words._

His girl leaned up to kiss his chin. “Mmm… _Ben_...you talk too much.”

Ben snorted _. Of course._ His Rey _always_ rallied. He reveled in that constant tension between them as if the bond were something that could be experienced as a tactile reality – a cord of trapped energy.

“I’ve been saving it up for years, Rey, I’m afraid you’ll have to listen to me wax poetic about your beauty for some years to come.”

Ben bent to plant a trail of kisses on each sharp angle and the soft plane of her face. “There is nothing in the galaxy that could tempt me more than the freckles on this nose…” He paused to kiss the constellation of freckles on her nose and then moved to her cheeks, “or this tiny half-moon scar, or…”

Ben trailed off.

“ _Fuck it._ Who am I kidding? You’re wearing more clothes than I am and… _this damned ribbon is taunting me_.” Ben spoke of it as if it were an adversary.

Rey whimpered as he took his body heat away and slid down the bed to greet the wicked red bow that graced the bottom of her bustier. As promised, Ben attacked it with his teeth, giving one silken streamer a strong tug, growling in appreciation for the accommodating structure of the garment.

The knot gave way with pleasing speed, loosening the bodice to reveal one golden strip of flesh trapped between the halves, still crossed by its scarlet jailer. He wanted to enshrine its seamstress. Ben was going to dedicate a statue to the woman in the middle of his throne room.

Ben gave Rey a moment to take a relieving breath at being freed from the constriction of the snug lacing before his mouth was at those tantalizing triangles of newly exposed flesh. Letting his tongue slip out to mark each spot in turn, he drew back and blew a cool breath against her dampened skin causing Rey to shudder and plunge her fingers in his hair.

“ _Ben…_ ” 

He shifted to his side and bent to place a kiss over the spill of each golden breast, his eyes eating up the shadows cast along the neckline of her bodice, hinting at pretty nipples just out of his sight. Ben propped his head on one hand and just stared, mesmerized, as those shadows deepened whenever Rey took a deep breath.

_She wanted him._

If Ben tugged just slightly, he knew those pert mounds would spill out the top of the neckline, but he wasn’t going to gorge himself. He was a man who had been denied his woman for too long. Ben was determined to linger over Rey, indulging every dream about her he’d ever woken from, alone, sweating, and hard.

Tucking his chin into the hollow between her breasts, Ben released one hot breath, delighting in the way Rey arched her back like a flower chasing the life-giving warmth of sunlight. He reached over with both hands to span her tiny waist, squeezing her tightly, enjoying the way his large palms framed her. The Force was an unseen artist, for Rey was lithe and strong, her dips and curves nuanced and teased into shape by a master.

Tugging again at the ribbon, he enjoyed the soft hiss of the satin as it slipped from each eyelet, unraveling like the knit of a frayed sweater. Ben raised his hand, grunting in victory as his red nemesis finally slipped free. He took great pleasure in flicking the offending scrap across the room as far as the momentum would take it. Rey giggled with delight, but he still found trepidation in her gaze.

_No, love_ , he pushed across the bond. _No fear_. _Only pleasure._

Ben was rewarded again with his name on her lips. A whisper. A breath.

His hand slid between them, one long finger trailing down her bare skin before his fingers cozied themselves underneath one leather panel. An unspoken question hung between them. There was no going back from this moment and Ben needed it to be her decision in every moment.

When Rey nodded, Ben felt her permission all the way to his toes. His erection strained against his pants, pressing into her thigh. His breath came short and sharp, betraying his need to see and do it all at last, but still determined to gild each moment in his memory.

Carefully parting the leather to push it away from her body, Ben gasped as he took in the full beauty of her breasts and her upper body for the first time. Small, perfect blush-colored nipples crowned perfect breasts, small but full. 

He bent to worship one with his tongue, laving it gently, capturing it between his lips as Rey moaned. Turning to its twin, Ben did the same, rewarded again by her gasp of pleasure and the feel of her small nails scratching against his scalp. 

Rey pulled him up to kiss him, her tongue tangling with his, the kiss turning fiery and carnal.

“Rey,” he groaned. “Touch me.”

Immediately, dainty hands trailed over the back of his head, down his neck, caressing his shoulders, following down the trench of his spine to slip under the waistband of his pants and… _squeeze his bare ass._

Ben jumped in surprise and a low, rumbling chuckle escaped from his mouth. Would she never do what he expected _? Gods, he hoped not._ Rey grinned at him as she squeezed again, her expression one of pure bliss as she satisfied some apparent curiosity.

“ _Mmm_ …been dying to do that haven’t you?” Ben teased while nuzzling her neck, nipping her carefully before sucking on the soft flesh. He did his level best to leave a mark.

“There’s a reason I chose to guard your back in the throne room, _Lord Ren_ ,” Rey whispered into his hair.

A bark of laughter escaped from deep in Ben’s chest. Hells. _He asked_. He never expected to be laughing with Rey the first time they made love, but somehow it was exactly right.

He drew back from her, feeling her fingers glide around his waist to the placket of his trousers before shrugging her hands away. Ben shook his head and grinned when she pouted. “I don’t think so. After the other night, it’s my turn.”

Unzipping each of her leather boots, Ben drew them down until he reached her trim ankles. Smoothing off each boot, he tossed them somewhere behind him where they made a muffled and satisfying thud on the durasteel. He hadn’t forgotten his idea to have her wear them in bed, but just now, he wanted to see every inch of her. There would be time enough for every fantasy later. He wouldn’t accept any other reality for them.

Ben bent toward her again to finish undressing his wife, relishing the snick of the zipper as it gave way. Rey raised her lower body toward him, helping him draw the pants down her hips. Lust roared through him at the sight of the tiniest pair of red panties he had _never_ imagined. As promised, two tiny bows framed her hips at the edges of the delta.

Ben groaned and sat back on his knees to take in the bounty in front of him and press one hand against his chest. “Gods, Rey. Are you really mine? You’re so fucking beautiful.” The smile she gave him would be something he knew he’d remember the rest of his life.

“Yours,” she confirmed. “And you’re _mine_.”

He smiled at that. The only role he ever really wanted. _To be hers_.

Arranging her legs over his shoulders, he dove in to kiss each tiny red bow of her panties before moving the fabric aside to plunge his tongue just under the hood of flesh that guarded her clit. Rey stiffened in shock and then gave Ben a long and filthy, “ _Ohhhhhhhhh_ ,” as if it just occurred to her that something could feel so much better than pleasure at her own hand.

He smiled against her flesh. _Oh, Sweetheart. You have no idea the things I plan to do to you._

Ben licked one long strip from her opening to her clit, enjoying the reward of her shudder and gasp before he tore the panties down her legs.

He returned swiftly to his meal, settling his tongue deep once again. The flavor of his wife was something Ben could never describe. Sweet and tart and as light and delicious as every other part of her. He began to lick and suck at Rey with an alternating rhythm that had her tugging at his hair and swearing to the Maker.

“ _Gods_ , Ben! _Yes_..there…THERE…” Rey was panting as she had been after they’d defeated the last Praetorian Guard. Ben adored that despite the new experience, his wife was willing to tell him what she liked and wanted. “ _More_ ,” she gasped, and he redoubled his efforts to make her come.

Slipping one long finger deep into her warmth, Ben stroked her from the inside and matched the movements of his hand with his tongue. He could feel her body chasing his finger, trying to keep him inside, every time he retreated.

Rey’s legs trembled as he layered pleasure on pleasure and helped her chase satisfaction. Her involuntary whimpers, counting down the minutes and seconds, went straight to his cock. Ben could feel it weeping in his pants and he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to last much longer.

“Come for me, Rey,” he rumbled against her sensitive flesh, causing more moans and shivers. Gradually picking up speed, he could feel her tense, Rey’s belly rising and she strained for her orgasm. Ben placed his hand over her abdomen, pressing her gently back to the mattress as he sucked her into his mouth.

At that, Rey screamed aloud and endless cry when the tension finally broke and ecstasy found her. The surge of male pride that Ben felt was primal and seduced his senses.

He placed one last kiss on her clit as she lay dazed in pleasure. Ben rose to peel off his pants, never taking his eyes from his wife. Never once wiping his mouth. Rey watched him without shame, her heated gaze taking him in from the top of his head to the swollen demand of his penis. He reached down and gave himself a single stroke.

When she reached for him, Ben was only to eager to give her what each needed. _At last._ Lowering himself carefully over her body, they both looked down, watching for the moment when his bare skin would touch hers. Both drew in deep breaths when his cock found its home at her entrance.

Ben flexed his hips, pulling back slightly before pushing forward to sink his cock into her tight, wet clasp. He could feel Rey’s nails dig into his back as she fought to relax against the intrusion. He knew he was no small man and she was so much smaller than him.

Carefully, he tunneled into her body with smooth, easy, strokes, each surging just a little further into his wife’s body as it slowly gave way and her warmth engulfed him completely. Ben gulped in a lungful of air, his chest working like a bellows as he tried not to hurt her. She felt _so_ good. It was all more than any fantasy his lonely mind had ever conjured.

Waiting for her signal that she was ready for what came next, their eyes met and held. “Rey,” he whispered, I love you _so much_.” Ben brushed his lips against hers, sharing the intoxicating flavor of her own body with her and her arms rose to twine around his neck, her fingers in his hair.

She met his eyes again, her golden-green eyes swimming with emotion. “Now, Ben _. Please_.”

Answering tears sprang to his eyes. In her “please” was the echo of his words in a moment that should have ended very differently. Rey was humbling herself. Telling him she was sorry for how they began. Maker, he was so grateful for her. For a second chance to get it all right. To get _them_ right.

Ben began to move in earnest, drawing one knee up under her thigh to give himself leverage and keep them as close as possible. Rey’s silken heat was sublime. Nothing in the galaxy could ever feel better than joining his hungry body with that of his wife. 

As he surged forward, again and again, Rey began to encourage him, moving with him, her small hands trying to find purchase on his as her body rose once again to find its release. Ben closed his eyes, fighting down his looming orgasm, trying to give Rey what she needed first. She would always come first.

And it went on. His body pushing, hers accepting. The sounds of their lovemaking became a filthy benediction at the place of their joining, a counterpoint to the emotions that came for them.

_It was perfect._

Finally, her inner muscles tightened on him and Rey’s entire body trembled as she came. Ben caught her languid moan in his mouth, kissing her swiftly as he stabbed his swelling cock into her a few more clumsy times before pressing deep. With a shout, he lost himself to his own release.

Slumping forward, Ben could feel Rey hug him and tuck her face under his chin, sealing their sweat-slick bodies together. He gave her his weight for one indulgent moment before pulling back to his elbows.

The stars in Rey’s eyes, he knew, reflected his own. Every time he’d ever wondered why he had to endure the torture and loneliness of his past, he’d never imagined he’d have an answer. Ben assumed he wasn’t worthy of an answer. But… _here it was._

Rey was his answer. His every reason. If he’d endured any part of it just so he could be here in this moment with her, he’d do it again.

Ben kissed her palm when one of her hands rose to cup his cheek. He waited for whatever she would say, hoping that their first time meant as much to her as it had to him.

Rey finally calmed her breathing enough to speak, though Ben had to admit that he was pleased that she needed to wait that long. “I love you, too, Ben. And…,” she paused to catch her breath again, “that was amazing.”

Ben kissed her mouth and then her forehead before rolling to his side, his arms wrapped around her.

“ _Can we try it with my boots on next time?_ ” came one half-shy question as Rey buried her face in his neck.

Ben burst out laughing.

“Give me ten minutes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My friends! I'm back! Thanks SO much for your patience!!! RL has overloaded me. 
> 
> Also, any clue how challenging it is to write a sex scene/love scene when in RL you are writing policies and procedures for the least sexy stuff you can imagine? If anything in this seems clinical, you have my sincere and most abject apologies. I hope I did Ben (and, ahem, Rey) some justice here. LOL.
> 
> I hope you will leave me some comments on what you thought about this chapter. I was trying for alllll the emotions and reactions. :)
> 
> Finally, thanks to Wookipeedia. The Laws of Motion is a thing in SW canon. We all know that things happen a bit differently in their galaxy than in ours. Science! :)  
> Thank you AGAIN for all the kudos and likes, AO3 fam! What a treat you are. It's your good deed for the day and each one means so much. Hope you are all well! XOXO


	17. Their Supreme Pains in the Ass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get Leia's reaction to the wedding of the Supreme Couple and Ben, Rey, Poe & Finn come to a fragile truce. (Poe's POV.)
> 
> Who is the chapter title about? Well, ostensibly, it's Ben and Rey, but with this group? It's ALL of them. I adore them all.

Leia

Alone in her chambers, Leia watched the holovid of the “press conference” for the fifth time. The look of uninhibited joy displayed on her son’s face as he gazed at the young woman who was now, thanks to their very public declarations, _his wife_ , was breathtaking. It seemed like a dream to the mother who worried that her boy was lost forever.

The galactic press was tripping over themselves trying to get more information on how the _Supreme Couple_ , as they had been dubbed, would ever have met over anything but crossed sabers. Speculation was rampant that theirs was an enemies-to-lovers romance and they wanted every detail. A “Supreme Baby Watch” had been started and a ticking Galactic Standard chrono stared at her from the bottom of the holo. From all accounts, even now the First Order was being inundated with requests for exclusive interviews with them.

_Excellent_. Her son and daughter-in-law would be safe, at least for the time being. The First Order would be hard-pressed to execute Ben and Rey for treason if all eyes were focused their way and enamored with their celebrity status. No, a military-style execution wasn’t the immediate concern. The real worry was what the First Order military zealots might be plotting behind closed doors.

The press’s second favorite speculation right now was whether that meant that the Resistance and the First Order were in negotiations to bring peace to the galaxy. Interviews of anonymous citizens in multiple systems around the galaxy expressed wishes for a new and balanced leadership where pillaging and murder were not two of the primary methods of bringing “order.”

_Force, may it be._

She could only imagine that Allegiant General Pryde was bristling at that idea. Enric Pryde was more than a worthy adversary. He was a zealot. And Leia knew that his preoccupation with bringing back the cultural superiority of the Empire would not stand for anything so disruptive as a marriage for the leader of the First Order to a member of the Resistance who had once been enslaved on Jakku.

Neither was Leia naïve enough to think that Ben would be any happier with her or Rey for leading him on a chase through the galaxy that ended with a public wedding, but she could not sense anything through the Force to indicate that he was angry. She hoped that wherever they were, they were wrapped up in one another enjoying their youth and togetherness before they had to face the machinations of Pryde and the weight of expectations from the rest of the galaxy.

She was awaiting word of Poe and Finn. She knew they’d been taken into custody by the First Order, but she also knew that Rey would see that they weren’t harmed.

The shot heard 'round the galaxy was not in the plans as far as Rey knew, but Leia had ordered Finn and Poe to make themselves known so that there would be more media attention on the safety of the Supreme Leader and his Consort. Making their safety a topic for discussion would keep public opinion on their side and bring into focus the efforts of the First Order to keep them safe.

Unfortunately, her two well-meaning lieutenants kept things a little too close for comfort, picking a point when Ben and Rey were sharing a kiss. Leia nearly had a heart attack as she watched her son shield his bride while Rey tried to stop the bolt from maiming or killing Ben. Poe and Finn were going to find themselves on the business end of her cane for that shoddy piece of work. She’d told them to fire a blaster bolt _nearby_. She didn’t tell them to part Ben’s hair with it. Fortunately, Rey was strong enough with the Force to do what needed to be done, but it had been a near thing.

Leia let out a sigh. What was done could not be undone. On the positive side, if there was one to be considered after _that_ mess, every romantic in the galaxy was now sighing over how the tall, dark, and handsome Supreme Leader had immediately put himself in harm’s way for the safety of his wife. They also loved that his former enemy used the shelter of his body while turning back the attack on her new husband.

Not that she’d ever admit it, but Leia was a romantic, too. She had to smile. Ben _was_ very handsome with his black hair, dark eyes, and broad frame. And Rey clearly adored him. The look of relief on her face when she turned the blaster back toward that balcony brought tears to her eyes when she first watched it. Ben and Rey made a beautiful couple and a formidable team. Light and Darkness in harmony.

Now if they could just stay alive long enough to wrestle the galaxy into a peaceful future…

Leia couldn’t dwell on the safety of her family any longer. The day was getting away from her and there were contingency plans yet to be made.

Poe

“How long do you think it’s going to take _Their Supreme Pains in My Ass_ to let us out of here?” Poe huffed.

“Well, considering that they think we tried to kill them, and they are technically on their _honeymoon_ , I’m guessing half past _never_ ,” Finn huffed back. “And that’s still _our_ Rey you’re talking about, so watch your mouth.”

Poe stood and began to pace around the cell he had been sharing with Finn for the last 12 standard hours. “Yes, you’re right. _I know_. I just don’t want to think about Rey and that…”

As if they had been summoned by the force of snarky comments, the portal slid open to reveal the Supreme Leader and his Consort who stepped into the small space with them.

“What, _Dameron_?” Ben purred. “That _what_?”

Rey rolled her eyes as if Kylo Ren had just done the very thing she asked him not to do. “ _Ben._ ”

“You’ll have to forgive me, Sweetheart,” Prince Brooding intoned. “ _They shot at you_.” He positioned himself in front of Rey as if Finn and Poe had not been disarmed by his Sith Troopers before meeting the business end of an electric prod and being tossed into the small prison block of Rey’s ship.

The newly minted Supreme Consort sighed and stepped around her overprotective husband. “They shot toward me. _Us._ I’m telling you that they never would have tried to kill us on purpose. There’s a reason-“

“ _You_. They never would have tried to kill _you_. Me, on the other hand…”

“ _Honestly, Ben_. This isn’t helpful. We agreed that we were going to come in here and-“

Poe blew out a breath and rubbed his face with one weary hand. “Would you two like us to leave? Finn and I would be happy to get out of your way while you work through your first marital argument. Just agree now not to go to bed mad and we’ll go.”

The once and future Ben Solo raised one dark brow. “I’m sure we have a medical supply closet somewhere aboard that you can guard while we decide your fate.”

Rey snorted and had to seal one hand over her mouth and nose to keep from doing it again. Tears of humor rose in her eyes and leaked out the corners as she fought to control her laughter.

“Thanks a lot, Rey,” Poe mumbled, running a hand over his neck and pacing around once more. “Remind me not to rescue you from the clutches of the First Order again anytime soon.”

“Oh, Poe. I’m sorry. Ben told me about where he found you trying to blend in on the hospital ship and this situation is so…well, _ridiculous_. You have to admit. It’s at least a little bit funny.”

Finn stepped into Rey’s personal space. “What’s _ridiculous_ , Rey, is that you are now _married to the Supreme Leader_ _of the First Order!_ When you and the General rolled out that…that _outfit_ …and then Leia ordered us to follow you so that we could shoot near you-“

Darth Vader 2.0 went from bored disinterest to molten lava in about a half a standard second. “ _Leia Organa ordered you to shoot at us?”_

Finn just blinked at the man he clearly still thought of as Kylo Ren and then continued to talk to Rey. “Anyway,” he said, angling his body away from the most powerful man in the galaxy, “the General said nothing about you marrying…this… _this_ …”

Now Ben rolled his eyes. “Spit it out, FN-“

“Finn. The name’s Finn,” he turned back toward the man that Rey apparently loved and gave him a piece of his mind. “And just so we’re clear, the only reason I’m here is that-“

Rey stuck her second and third fingers in her mouth and blew a shrill whistle that had Finn covering his ears and Poe squinting at her in pain.

“ _Alright!_ Are we all done now? _Because I think_ _we are_.” Rey scolded the three of them like little boys. Poe and Finn had the grace to look chastened, but it was not lost on Poe that Kylo Ren just crossed his arms over his chest and watched his wife with pride and what could only be termed as _naked want_.

“ _Yuck_ ,” Poe mumbled under his breath to Finn only to have Rey stab him with a glare that had him looking anywhere but directly at her.

“Now that we’ve established that one of you has terrible aim and that you were not supposed to actually hit us with that blaster bolt,” Rey said, her patience getting short, “does one of you want to explain _why_ you were told to shoot _near_ us?”

Poe and Finn glanced at one another, both mortally wounded by Rey’s comments on their skills with a blaster.

Finn spoke before Poe could respond.

“If you two hadn’t gone all kissy-face up on that stage, we’d have been back on our ship and headed home to the Resistance by now. And just so we’re clear, it was _me_ who made the blaster shot. And my aim is _just fine_ , thank you very much. It went exactly where it was supposed to go before _he_ started trying to swallow your face.” The thumb that Finn hitched toward Kylo Ren had Poe pursing his lips together tightly. Finn was such a drama queen. 

Rey blushed but Ben waited a few more seconds before throwing his hands up with impatience. “ _And?!_ ”

Finn shook himself out of his momentary outrage. “ _And_ …Leia said that a shooting at your wedding would make the press focus on-“

“ _Our safety_ ,” the Supreme Couple said in unison, nodding at one another in shared comprehension.

“Of course,” Ben acknowledged. “It will be harder for the First Order to kill us if we are popular and someone has already tried.”

Poe could almost read the thoughts that worked across Ben Solo’s face like words on a page. He doubted that the man knew how unguarded he was at that moment. His mother knew better than anyone how to manipulate the galactic press corps. Leia had been doing it since well before either of them had been born. It felt like a private moment, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away. It was like seeing some small part of her broken son knit himself back together to know that his estranged mother was as concerned for his safety as Poe knew Ben had been when he’d coming tearing across the galaxy to save her from the Hutts.

_Ben Solo wanted to be her son again._

Witnessing that moment, more than anything, convinced Poe that it was time to try to make his former enemy his ally.

“Look,” he said to Ben, “it’s obvious to us that you love the woman we consider our baby sister.” Poe glanced at Rey whose eyes shone with tears once again, though this time he knew they were caused by having someone claim her as family. “And it’s clear that _she_ loves _you_. I might not understand it, but I guess that’s love for you.” Poe glanced at Finn and gave him a small nod before looking Ben in the eyes again. “So, if you swear to take good care of her, I propose that we try to find a way to at least be civil to one another and work together for Rey’s sake, for Leia’s, and... _I hope_ …for the galaxy.”

Finn cleared his throat and then gave General Organa’s son his nod of agreement. The former Stormtrooper was in, too.

Ben seemed surprised and paused for a moment to look from Rey’s _de facto_ brothers into the smiling face of his wife.

Poe could see Rey’s excitement at the prospect of having all the members of her makeshift “family” working together. He was counting on the fact that because Ben Solo had committed treason against the Order to keep her safe, he would never deny Rey a chance to have her husband _and_ her friends. If the former Kylo Ren could set aside the pain and darkness of his past for her, then maybe they all had a chance to make it out of this war safe, alive, and together.

After another moment, the tall, dark specter of the galaxy held his gloved hand out to Poe. He took it eagerly, returning that firm handshake before Finn stepped forward to offer his hand to Ben as well.

None of the men said a word as Rey wiped her eyes discreetly on the edge of her cape. It was a start. Now the real work would begin.

Ben Solo let out a sigh, unbending enough to admit, “Rey and I are in danger and we could use your help.”

Poe grinned while Finn leaned his jaw forward to listen to the intelligence that Ben Solo was about to share.

“Now we’re talking,” Poe said, clasping his hands together. “ _What’s up?_ ”

“From what we were able to sense during this morning’s briefing, General Pryde and his cronies are putting plans in motion to assassinate us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do we think Leia is planning? One of the things I ADORE about her is that she always has her next move planned out. What do we think about the budding bromance between Rey's guys?
> 
> Next chapter, things get all plot-ty, sinister and dangerous and...yeah...I know.. There will be fluff and smut again at some point with a dash or two of comedy. I can't help it.
> 
> Thank you VERY much for being patient. I hope this didn't disappoint. Comments, Kudos, and Constructive Criticism are Always welcome and appreciated! I respond to all. XOXO


	18. Blame me for it Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allegiant General Pryde gets all murder-y and so does Poe Dameron.

Allegiant General Pryde

The cheek of that filthy desert upstart! Supreme Leader Ren made a serious tactical error in aligning himself – his cock – with that uncouth, uneducated…nevermind. It didn’t bear the expenditure of any further energy. Pryde would destroy them both. 

He’d already been approached by more than one general to see what would be done about, “the Supreme Leader’s strategic anomaly.” 

Anomaly, indeed. If Enric had learned anything from working for the Empire, it was that any deviation from the basic tenets of the government, especially by those who held its positions of power, was a fatal mistake. Order could not be maintained. 

Pryde told the officers to “wait and see” while putting on a brave face, but it was good to know who his allies might be when the time came. It was his solemn duty as the highest-ranking military leader in the Order to expel both pretenders to galactic rule with extreme prejudice. After that stunt pulled by Organa’s lieutenants at that farce of a wedding, it would be easier to convince others that the lives of the Supreme Leader and his Consort were in danger. 

Pryde considered the satisfying pageantry of executing both Ren and his scavenger once they returned to the command ship, but the press was making general pests of themselves vying for the opportunity to come aboard and be the first to interview their newest celebrities. It wouldn’t do to unleash a firing squad on a dais in the main hangar. 

No, this mission would need to be covert, its objectives only known by very few. It would need to happen off the ship. 

Enric Pryde would make his contacts and lay his plans. And then he would wait. He was good at waiting. He waited out the destruction of the Empire. He waited out Hux and his absurd brand of leadership. He would wait out Kylo Ren. And the galaxy would finally be his.

It was his time.

  
Ben

Ben pressed himself deep into the cove of Rey’s body and bent his head to capture the lips of the prettiest girl in the universe one last time before collapsing in a breathless heap at her side. His wife was breathing just as heavily, her golden skin glowing in the half-light of their chamber. 

Ben could hardly believe that any of this was real. Touching her was like touching pure starlight. He thought back to the time when she came for him on the Supremacy, looking for all the galaxy like the princess she was now. She was his consort, his princess, his wife, and the future empress of the galaxy if he had anything to say about it.

Rey rolled toward him, nesting herself in the space between his arm and his chest, propping a leg across his thighs. She smiled at him, hugging him to her, before drifting to sleep. Ben marveled at how quickly she could do that.

“Sleep, sweetheart. I love you,” he whispered.

Ben carded his fingers through her hair, rumpled from making love with him for much of the night cycle. They dozed on and off, both of them too happy – and too attracted to each other – to sleep for long. He pulled the covers to her shoulders, tucking her closer against him.

This was his honeymoon. It was a surreal thought. For the rest of his life, no matter how long that might be, he would have the memories of sleeping next to his wife. Of being with her. Of sharing his body and heart with her. 

And therein lay the problem. 

No matter how badly he wanted to believe that he could protect his wife, the First Order’s military structure was enormous. There were more officers than small planets could sustain as a population. Many of their ships were too large to ever make planetfall without causing global conflagration and mass die-offs. Not to mention that on those ships and planets were those touched by Snoke’s legacy and Ben’s place in it. Those people would always want to hurt him. They would want to do more than send a blaster bolt his way. 

Ben could not blame those who were hurt during his time as Snoke’s Enforcer for wanting power or revenge. He would never be able to control them all. They would strike at him when and where he was most vulnerable. They would hurt Rey, and, if the Force blessed them, their children. 

And if they didn’t, then Enric Pryde mostly certainly would. 

It was why, when Rey was training with Captain Rekkon and his team the day before, Ben contacted Poe and Finn, who had since“escaped,” about the most likely scenarios for a coup once Ben and Rey returned to his ship.

Ben presented his plan for any eventuality and was met with silence. He could practically see Poe and Finn exchanging a look to decide who would be the first to respond before Finn tried to explain what Ben’s heart he already knew. He knew what they would say. It was the thing that chilled his blood when thinking about what might happen to his beautiful girl.

“Hells. Rey will never go along with that Re-…er…Ben. I know Rey. She won’t leave you behind. Rey never walks away from a fight. Never.”

Dameron joined in, his cocky and casual style pouring over the comms unit. “Plus, she loves you, man. That’s a big deal for Rey. She’s been waiting to love someone her entire life. You lucky, bastard.”

Ben smirked at that observation. If he had the time and fewer worries, he might pat himself on the back for stealing Rey out from under Dameron’s nose, but he couldn’t allow anything to sway him from the purpose of this conversation. 

He let out a deep sigh. “I know…I am…that is, I do realize that. I-I need you to promise me that you will do anything you have to do in order to make Rey leave with you. And then take her and run like hells. If…when…the time comes, they won’t kill me right away. She’ll need to believe she has no other choice but to go with you. Lie to her and then blame me for it later. I don’t care. I just…” Ben trailed off for a moment, his emotions threatening to rise to the surface. 

He cleared his throat before continuing, his voice a hollow shell of what it had been just moments ago. “I need to know she’ll be safe.”

Finn and Poe were silent again for a minute. He appreciated that they allowed him to distance himself from a weak moment without filling it with chatter.

“Wait. Why are you bringing this to us now? We just talked about plans for helping you both with Rey last night. What’s changed between last night and today?” The suspicion was back in Dameron’s voice, a trait, Ben supposed that kept the man alive to fight another day on more than one occasion.

“There is no difference. Last night, the plans we discussed were all possible scenarios. I needed Rey to believe that we’ll be of equal value to them when they try to grab power. But that’s not true. They will want to incapacitate me. They’ll want to torture me. 

Poe caught on, whispering, “And they’ll use Rey to do it.”

Ben wanted to acknowledge those words, but he found he could not voice his agreement. 

“Ben,” Finn finally said, his voice filled with grudging respect, “I promise you. I promise that Rey will be safe if I have anything to say about it. I’m not sure how we’ll be close enough to help. We’ll need to work out how that would happen, but I’ll be there. We’ll be there for her.”

Poe hummed through the comms unit. Ben thought, initially, he was agreeing with what Finn said. His next words caught Ben by surprise. 

“What if we killed you instead?”

Ben shook off the memory of that conversation and returned his attention to the beautiful woman at his side. He smiled as he heard her snort before she flipped on to her side and smacked him in the nose with her elbow. Grunting with pain, Ben reached up to rub the bridge of his nose. He'd received a similar jab last night. If he was going to survive their marriage bed, he thought, he might need to repair his mask and start wearing it to bed. Even as his eyes watered from the blow, Ben could not be anything other than happy to have her next to him, sleeping with such abandon, where she belonged. 

He wondered how long it could last, the bliss of being with the one person who truly understood him. Please, Ben begged the Force. A future with Rey Solo. 

It was all he truly wanted. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Friends - here is a little something for you. I'm sorry that it's short! I hope it doesn't disappoint too much as it's really just intended to set up some later plot points. 
> 
> I cannot begin to express how busy the past few weeks have been. I have also been very, very sick. (No, not the virus!) Anyway, I am much better now and decided that we needed to get things moving again. I'm SO SORRY for the delay. 
> 
> Things are going to start happening. Not to worry, I will pepper them with all the lovely fluffy, smutty moments we love between our hero and heroine. As always, I'm more grateful than I can say for your patience and your generous comments. XOXO


	19. The Supreme Leader's  Magnificent  Hair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey decides to cut through the B.S.

Pryde

Enric stood with hands clasped behind his back, 50,000 Stormtroopers in perfect formation just behind him. They waited for the Supreme Leader and his new Consort to descend from her ship for formal introductions to the Order. It was an obscene joke.

He pinned what he hoped to be a pleasant and accommodating smile on his face as the pair finally started down the ramp. The Sith Troopers the girl had baldly stolen from Ord Mantell surrounded them, offering protection for the pair. He planned to execute them all once their masters were dead.

Behind the troopers came the staff from the official residence on Coruscant, recalled at his insistence when Lady Ren commented how efficient and well-mannered they were. He had been only too glad of that opportunity. Pryde had assigned that staff himself many standard years ago, long before the current Supreme Leader had usurped his position.. 

Ren was no simpleton, so he would be expecting the officers to take some overt action to overthrow him once he felt comfortable. What Enric had planned for him and his bride would be what he least expected. So much the better. It would be easier to explain to the troops when the time came.

Ben and Rey

Ben struggled not to laugh as Rey mentally gagged in reaction to the ghoulish smile pasted on the gaunt and angular face of Allegiant General Enric Pryde.

_Truly, Ben. Just ask him to smile at enemies. They will surrender immediately. Problem solved._

Ben cleared his throat, determined to choke back the full-bodied laughter that was threatening to escape from its cage in his chest. Rey, as he had learned to his endless delight, had a devious sense of humor.

_I think he oils his teeth so his lips will slide over them._

Ben could feel tears of humor rise in his eyes.

 _Sweetheart, I’m begging you,_ Ben choked out through their bond. _The Supreme Leader cannot guffaw his way through the hangar. It would be…indecorous._

Rey gave him a brief glance, her face betraying no emotion other than the serene formality she had seen Leia adopt whenever the occasion called for it. She supposed this was one of those occasions.

_Indecorous…nice word, my love. However, I would argue that the Supreme Leader can do whatever he damn well pleases._

Ben nearly snorted. _One would think so. One would be wrong._

As they moved the last few steps toward General Pryde, Rey considered Ben’s statement. Maybe the problem was that no one had ever baldly discussed the elephant in the room. If unspoken danger lurked around every corner, then now was the time for those countless hours of planning with Leia to pay off. Rey waited for her moment.

Ben picked up on the machinations going on in her mind. _What are you planning, sweet Scavenger?_

_Oh, just what I’m going to do to you under that cloak as soon as I get you alone._

Ben’s stride faltered slightly and he huffed out a breath, but only enough for Rey to notice.

“Ah, Allegiant General Pryde. I trust all is well and ready for our arrival.” Ben drew Rey’s hand toward him and tucked her arm in his.

“Of course, my lord,” Pryde responded, his booted heels snapping together slightly in acknowledgment of Ben’s authority. He turned to Rey.

“My Lady Ren,” General Pryde bowed, “it is indeed a pleasure to meet you in person at last.”

Rey regarded him carefully, waiting until he straightened again and more than one beat of uncomfortable silence had passed. She sighed audibly. “Yes, General Pryde. I am gratified to meet you in person and find that you are exactly as you have seemed to me over our holovid calls the past few days.”

_Rey…my beautiful troublemaker…what are you doing?_

But Ben had a pretty good idea. Turning his head slightly, he nodded to Rekkon to assure that the team was at the ready. The Sith Troopers moved to surround them on all sides, their weapons ready. Pryde and the rest of the officers behind him looked as wary and uncomfortable as he had ever seen them.

“Er…one hopes that is a good thing, my lady.” Pryde’s words were a question more than a statement. He looked uncomfortable and confused. Ben reached out to read the general’s thoughts, careful to keep his presence unnoticed.

While he did that, Rey continued, “Yes, one hopes that it is, sir. However, I feel that if we are to get off on the right foot, I must be completely honest with you.”

Pryde recovered, rocking back and forth on his heels, his most patronizing smirk pasted on his face. “Please do tell me what I can do to promote your comfort, ma’am, and I can assure you that I will give it my utmost attention.”

Ben clenched his fists, leaning forward slightly, waiting for all hell to break loose.

Rey summoned herself, pushing one hip out, showing Pryde and everyone else watching them the lightsaber at her hip. “Well, for starters, I would like you to stop plotting against my husband’s rule.”

Pryde sputtered like a stricken engine.

Ben watched as Rey rose up on her toes and looked over his general’s shoulder. Pointing one slender finger at three different officers. “And you…you…aaannnndd you.” She stepped back to his side, sliding her hand down his wrist to twine her bare fingers around his gloved ones.

Ben was sure at least one of the men she just pointed at was going to fall over in a dead faint. As it was, he could detect that their heart rates had sped up considerably and at least one of them was sweating buckets around the high collar of his tunic.

“ _Yes._ All of you must stop plotting treason instantly,” Rey insisted in a reasonable and even tone as she addressed the group. “I have sensed it since the first moment we spoke to you from Coruscant and in every meeting since then. It never ceases to amaze me how those who are not Force-sensitive fail to grasp that Force users are capable of sensing the thoughts of _every living creature in the universe_. To be clear, General, I can assure you that if you or your comrades attempt to harm a single hair on the Supreme Leader’s magnificent head, _I will not hesitate to separate you from yours._ Have I made myself entirely clear?”

Ben watched as Enric Pryde gaped at Rey for several moments, his mouth opening and closing like a submerged Gungan. Finally, the man began to laugh, a strained and creaky sound.

“How very droll you are, Lady Ren.” Continuing to smile that oily, toothy smile, Pryde clapped his clammy hands together and turned to Ben. “How fortunate you are in your partner, my Lord Ren. Lady Ren must keep you on your toes! She will be a much-needed breath of fresh air for The Order, most definitely.” 

The officers behind the cackling sociopath in front of him began to test out their own rusty cackles, their eyes wide with terror and uncertainty. 

“There is one more thing, General,” Rey spoke, a gentle smile drifting across her lovely features.

“Yes, Lady Ren?”

Ben almost felt sorry for the man. Almost.

Rey leaned toward him, a flash of her dimples teasing him as he looked on in silence. “Droll? Yes. I suppose I am. _I'm also really fucking serious._ And...I dislike being spoken of as if I am not in the room. It makes me… _cranky_.”

Pryde reared back slightly, caught somewhere disbelief, affront, and grudging respect.

“Yes, my Lady. Of course. My…uh…apologies of course. It won’t happen again.”

“ _Excellent_ ," Rey beamed a genuine smile. "Now that we’ve agreed that no one is going to kill anyone, at least not today, then perhaps we can begin the ceremony?”

As Pryde nodded his head and moved to lead them toward the dais at the opposite end of the hangar, Ben burst out laughing, a hearty and joyful sound, causing every person in the vicinity, required to stand at attention or not, to turn their heads and stare at him in open-mouthed disbelief.

 _Supreme Leader,_ Ben’s wife admonished him _, laughter at such a time is indecorous._ Rey frowned at him, her tiny nose in the air.

_Fuck decorum, Sweetheart._

This is how the troops of the First Order were introduced to the Supreme Consort, Lady Ren - by a _chuckling Supreme Leader_ who looked at his wife as if she had invented the stars, galaxies, and everything in between. And as far as they were concerned, maybe she had.

A few steps behind Kylo Ren and Rey, Lady Ren, Enric Pryde marinated in his own rage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Friends...I cannot tell you enough how sorry I am that it has taken me so long to update this fic! I have been very busy and the muse was not helping me with this work at all. Thank you for your patience!
> 
> I LOVE me some snarky Ben and Rey! I like the dynamic between them when they are together. A united front. Them against the universe. In perfect accord. I also love that Rey is not afraid to let the Dark come out and play a bit. How about you? What will Pryde do now?

**Author's Note:**

> What am I doing? Seriously. I have one fanfic ready to be finished and updates needed for two others. I promise I haven't abandoned them. I've just been inspired! :)
> 
> What do we think about where this new fic is going? I am grateful for Wookieepedia and the diagrams of the SW galaxy for information on the Hutts. I marked this as 25 Chapters, but that's just an estimate. Stick with me!
> 
> I love comments and welcome constructive feedback. Please, please feed me. When a comment notification shows up in my email, it is such a rush! Even if this has been posted a while, I WILL respond to everything. Enjoy! XOXO


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